Shinobi Son Gohan!
by Orzza
Summary: What if something went wrong with Raditz's space ship? What if Gohan ended up on a foreign world with no way home? Will he ever find his way back and what effect will he have on the Elemental Nations? Rated T for safety, will change to M when/if necessary. Pairings undecided.
1. The Beginning

**Hey guys, just had another story idea, so sorry if this isn't me updating the Champion of Clan Namikaze :) just had a wild idea for this, thought I'd see what reception it got... It's only a short intro, but I kind of wanted to end it there. I might decide to take this somewhere, or it might not go anywhere, just want to see what you guys think of it. If you like the idea then let me know it. In the future I might edit this and make it longer, but I think I'll just write more chapters when I'm in the mood. Anyway can't think of much else to say.**

**Oh except that when I write my stories and put them up here for me it's kind of like a massive beta. Like I have a closed beta with the 2 or 3 people who read my story before it goes up, and then I upload it. If i ever get to the point where I complete a story (will happen unless life screws me over haha :P) chances are I will most likely go through and revise the entire thing if I can.**

**Just thought I'd say that. Anyway read and review! :)**

**Still trying to work out a good name for the story ... or a better one anyway enjoy!**

****Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or Naruto. :(

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**Shinobi Son Gohan!**

**Chapter 1: The Beginning**

* * *

The little boy shook with fear as he watched the scene unfold before him, tears streaming down his face. He was trapped, kidnapped by this cruel man from another world. There was nothing he could do confined within the small spherical spacecraft that the foreigner had seemingly arrived in.

All the young Half-Saiyan could do was cry. And so Gohan sat wailing as the stranger faced off against his father. Slamming his fists against the inside of the spaceship as he screamed for the embrace of the greatest man in the world Gohan didn't notice the words and colours appearing seemingly at random on the console that sat next to him.

xXx

"You'll never get away with this Raditz!" Goku roared as he desperately tried to get his son back. Neither he nor Piccolo were faring well against his sadistic brother. He was an incredible fighter, and while Goku and Piccolo may have been the strongest fighters on their world Raditz's occupation was to decimate the population of entire planets.

His fists blurred as he struck out at nothing but air, the afterimage of his Saiyan brother disappearing as Goku had the wind knocked out of him with a powerful uppercut launched by his opponent.

Piccolo was still recovering from his encounter with the long-haired alien, but Goku desperately needed him. He couldn't fight this monster by himself. Raditz was too powerful. He just needed to give Piccolo enough time!

_I WILL NOT LOSE! _Goku thought just before he was sent flying into the ground with a punch to the back of the head. He couldn't keep up!

"Hahaha why brother it would appear I have you beat," Raditz said as he looked around the battlefield and placed his foot on the back of his brother as he lay face down in the dirt. The two strongest fighters of this world and they couldn't even touch him; what a pathetic planet.

"NOW BEG YOU PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A SAIYAN!" Raditz screamed as he began to apply huge amounts of pressure to the ribcage and spine of Earth's hero. Lifting his foot he began stomping repeatedly, each stomp accentuated by Goku's screams.

xXx

He couldn't see over the lip of the crater, but Gohan could hear his father's screams. Every piercing screech his father uttered sent terror through the heart of the young boy. Raditz had to stop hurting him!

He thrashed about once again, hating with all his heart the fact that he was powerless to stop anything, a great power building within him as he thought about a world without the great man that was his father.

The screams stopped. Good, now to make Raditz pay for what he was doing!

Only Gohan never got the chance to use his newfound power, for just as he was about to burst from within the space craft it began humming to life. Lifting from the ground.

"**Confirmation of Saiyan occupant. Course set. Destination, PXY-771. Departure in, 3… 2… 1…" **The on board computer said to the small boy as the craft began flying further away from the ground, blasting off once it reached a safe altitude.

All Gohan could do was cry as he left his home planet behind. His father still pinned to the ground by the cruel and evil Raditz. The one man that could have saved him trapped under foot.

He just sat huddled in the oversized chair of the ship, cradling his hat and his great-grandfather's four star dragon ball as he wept until he could cry no more.

xXx

"GOHAN!" Goku screamed from his position on the ground as he saw the ship rise to a safe height before disappearing in the sky in a blur.

"WHAT?!" Raditz screamed in anger, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Goku was worried about his son obviously, but he noticed that Raditz was worried about his ship or more the fact that he was stuck on Earth.

It would be a simple matter of getting the ship to return to him with his scouter before it got out of range, but still, the child shouldn't have been able to activate anything from inside anyway, he thought he'd locked the controls.

He reached up towards his scouter, distracted. Now was Goku's chance!

Quickly pushing up from the ground and knocking the foot out from underneath his brother, Goku was able to land a few quick strikes against the Saiyan, one of them glancing the scouter on his head, breaking it into tiny fragments.

After his quick barrage and before his brother could adequately recover Goku did the only thing he could think of to give Piccolo more time. He blurred from view before appearing behind his brother, putting him in a full nelson.

"Piccolo!" Goku screamed from his position as Raditz struggled to free himself, "do something now!"

"Hah! Not so tough now are we?" Piccolo taunted Raditz with the position he now found himself in, "This move will take you both out Goku, so I hope you're prepared for the afterlife,"

Goku thought about Gohan drifting through space, and how if he was gone he couldn't go after him. His son would literally be lost in space.

Then he thought about all the people on Earth that were depending on him to kill Raditz. His wife, his friends and all the innocents that would suffer if Raditz survived.

"DO IT!" He screamed out from behind his brother as the Saiyan struggled against the hold.

"You've got it," Piccolo said with a smirk as he readied himself to charge his Special Beam Cannon.

xXx

Gohan couldn't have known how long he cried for before he fell asleep, curling up on the chair of the spacecraft, all he knew was that it was a long time.

"**Initiating Stasis**," the onboard computer said as the young boy drifted into sleep, not realizing that the next time he awoke would be a year later.

xXx

(A Year Later, Unexplored System, Home to PXY-771)

Gohan woke with a start, his rather dreamless sleep having been a comfort for the boy as he started remembering how he ended up where he was.

Before he could dwell on it much longer the computer spoke to him, "**Destination reached. Beginning entry in 10... 9…**" The robotic voice confused him.

_Destination, what? _He quickly moved in his seat to get a better angle on his 'destination'.

Looking out the view port on the front of the spherical spaceship Gohan could only marvel at the huge planet looming before him as the on board computer counted down the seconds to entry.

It was huge, with one side lit by a yellow sun and the other in darkness as it continued it's celestial movement around the star.

"**1…**,"

And then the light show really began. Gohan was amazed and frightened by the heat and light generated as the ship buffeted against the atmosphere of the strange planet.

Streaks of red, orange, yellow, even blue were lancing off the front of the ship as it continued its descent.

After a while the ship stabilized a little more and the descent became slightly more controlled as the craft rocketed towards the ground with crazy speed.

xXx

Hiruzen stood looking out over the village, having just been informed by Hatake Kakashi that another assassination attempt on the Jinchuuriki of Konoha had been foiled.

Most of the villagers treated the boy poorly, either ignoring his existence or going out of their way to make his life difficult. But there were a number of smaller groups that actually wanted revenge on the monster that took so much away from them. Groups driven by revenge, blinded by hate.

They couldn't see what was right in front of them. That Naruto Uzumaki was just a boy, a boy that had protected them and continued to protect them from the monster that was the Kyuubi as long as he lived.

He wondered if people would ever learn. The old man understood why the young boy wished so badly to be Hokage whenever he saw him at the orphanage. He just wanted to be recognized.

The third Hokage just hoped that that dream wouldn't get him into too much trouble.

As he looked out over his domain, the people he was sworn to protect, the sun finally dipping below the horizon he caught glimpse of a strange light in the sky.

It looked like a shooting star, only much closer and actually made of something of substance as light streaked around it.

The strange light stopped after a while and the object came speeding down from the sky before crash landing a distance from the boundaries of the village; the impact powerful enough that it could be heard for miles.

This was something he needed to look into himself. It wasn't very often something fell from the stars.

xXx

Gohan sat crying within the spacecraft for some time after the excitement and adrenaline from the experience of entering the atmosphere of a strange planet finally wore off and he realized that he was alone.

He had no one. Mother, father, friends, all of them were gone, far away even if they had survived Raditz. He had no way of going back either; not knowing in the slightest how to operate the ship.

Eventually he pressed on door of the craft and it opened for him, revealing a lush land full of trees and crisp clean air. Stumbling from the spacecraft he tripped over his own feet, falling straight onto his face.

Hearing a slight chuckle at his misfortune he looked up to find himself staring straight into the eyes of a kind looking old man. The man was saying something he couldn't understand. But more interestingly, Gohan was captivated by what was behind him.

xXx

"Hmmm well I wonder what you're doing here? Although I doubt you can even understand what I'm saying." Well wasn't this a problem? A young boy, with a tail it would appear, just crash landing outside of Konoha. Now that didn't happen every day.

He had red puffy eyes and a tear stained face so he'd obviously been weeping.

_I wonder what happened to him_, the old man thought to himself, _and what is he looking at,_ turning his head to look all he could see was a full moon, _it is a rather beautiful sight isn't it? _Hiruzen thought to himself. Too few people took in the beauty of the world around them.

But turning back to the small boy in front of him he noticed something very wrong. His face was changing shape, his eyes were changing colour, and he was growing what appeared to be fur everywhere.

The now ape-like child let out a roar as he began to grow to monstrous size.

_This is definitely not good_.

"Send for reinforcements!" Hiruzen called to his hidden ANBU bodyguards, "We can't let it get near the village!" The old man commanded as he leapt to the side to avoid a crushing stomp from the beast in front of him.

It was now completely wild.

Stamping and stomping on a rampage even it's roars were terrifying; every time the creature opened its mouth to scream it would release a monstrous beam of what appeared to be energy.

The destruction the small boy turned beast was dealing to the surrounding forest was almost as bad as if the Kyuubi had returned. The blasts it was releasing from its mouth were travelling incredible distances before exploding, obliterating the environment.

It was surprisingly fast for its size as well, causing the Sandaime Hokage to keep moving, lest he suffer a strike from the large creature.

He had to do something. Even if it had originally been a small innocent looking boy it was now a threat to the entire village.

Going through a number of hand seals as the creature continued in its efforts to strike him down the Hokage released a massive torrent of flame from his mouth that formed into a giant dragon before the ape turned toward him and fired a beam of yellow energy from its mouth.

The energy met with the jutsu and for the most part cut completely through it before dissipating. Some of the flame managed to splash onto the beast, but all that did was further enrage the creature as it patted the fur that was on fire to extinguish the flames before attacking the old man once again.

With the size and power of the beast all the Hokage could manage to do before he further analyzed his combatant was stay alive. There had to be some weakness to this abomination.

It didn't take long for reinforcements to arrive to try and take down the rampaging monster. But even then they were having problems.

Its tail was sweeping around and taking out any of the shinobi that were trying to attack from behind. The speed with which it moved and the power with which it struck was tremendous and jutsu seemed to be having little effect. As the Hokage threw as many techniques as he could at it.

The durability of the creature would have been impressive if it hadn't been trying to kill them. Energy beams that were almost continuously being shot from its mouth weren't doing the ANBU any favours, and while most of them wanted to be on the offensive there were a number that simply couldn't get a chance to attack.

It felt like the Kyuubi all over again.

Hiruzen could only watch in horror at what a small boy had become. A thing of terror, and now he understood the fear and anger of the people of the village. Who knew if Naruto would one day explode just like this? Releasing a monster upon them all? But just because he understood what they felt didn't mean he felt it was justified. They were still wrong because Naruto was still just a boy.

He didn't know what this child was.

It looked like they were starting to get the upper hand on the creature. While he didn't think any of the ANBU had been killed thanks to their evasive techniques a large number were injured, having taken glancing blows from the limbs or tail of the giant beast.

The ground shook with every step it took. They needed to bring it down soon. Because while they were getting the upper hand they were going to start running out of reinforcements if he didn't send for more. He didn't need more bloodshed.

Just as he started formulating a coordinated all out attack on the beast, trying to think of something that would help them finish the fight something strange happened.

xXx

(A few moments earlier)

To be frankly honest Yuugao had had just about enough of this ungodly ape and its tail, which seemed to have a mind of its own.

That was the fourth attack that it had prevented her from making. Every time she'd gotten close to inflicting any sort of damage to the body of the beast the tail would swing in from nowhere and either belt her away or impede her movement forward.

She was fed up. And Hayate Gekko knew that a fed up Yuugao was not a Yuugao you wanted to mess with. Oh boy did he know that.

Going through a number of hand seals in preparation for her anger fueled attack she drew her blade once again, holding it across her body before charging forward, slashing at the air in front of her almost faster than the eye could see.

When she appeared on the other side of the ape, exhaustion in her eyes, it had looked as if she'd only struck once. Anyone who knew her style knew how wrong that was. But how many times she'd swung her blade was of little consequence as the tail dropped to the ground. One less asset for the beast to use in its fight.

xXx

The Hokage could only marvel at the sight of the beast roaring as it shrank to the size of the small boy again, who fell to his knees, his eyes going empty as he dropped the rest of the way to the ground.

Every ANBU saw their chance.

And the Hokage knew in that instance that he couldn't let what was about to transpire come to pass.

"STOP!" Hiruzen cried. Every ANBU froze in place, some just slight movements from ending the life of the small boy.

He understood how the people felt about Naruto, but that didn't mean he thought that was right.

_This boy is just like Naruto, and it appears his tail is the source of this monstrous creature within him, _Sarutobi thought as he peered over at the tail that had also shrunk back to size.

"But Hokage-sa…"

"No buts! This boy is under my protection and therefore the protection of Konoha. I have a feeling that without his tail he isn't a threat to anyone. I'll have someone keep an eye on him, but if I find out he was 'dealt' with I will find the people responsible and I will kill them!" realizing that some of the ANBU present were still unconvinced he got their attention again, "LOOK AT HIM! HE'S JUST A CHILD," the young boy was curled up naked on the ground, his thumb stuck in his mouth as he slept.

"A child that can turn into a giant ape that shoots energy from its mouth and whose stomps cause mini-earthquakes," one of the ANBU spoke up form the group.

"I'm not going to end the life of a small child from a foreign land because of a hidden power he has. A hidden power I'm quite sure we've dealt with."

"Do you think he's a Jinchuuriki?" another ANBU spoke up, "There's never been a mention of an ape bijuu with only one tail."

"No," the Hokage said, glancing toward the space-craft that was more or less buried and broken under the debris of the obliterated forest, "he's not a Jinchuuriki. I don't know what he is."

"And you don't think he'll be a threat again?" another ANBU spoke up skeptically.

"No, the moment cat cut off his tail he began changing back. Like I said, it would appear this power manifests itself from within the tail somehow. As long as he doesn't have one he shouldn't be a threat."

It was clear from the grumbling within the group that a number of the ANBU were extremely skeptical of the decision of the Hokage. But he was the Hokage for a reason. They couldn't do anything about it.

"You're dismissed," Sarutobi said, "Make sure to seek treatment if you are wounded, I'll handle the boy."

With that the shinobi disappeared in swirls of leaves, some of the healthier helping the injured.

When they were all gone, Kakashi stepped out from the shadows, nursing a gash on his arm.

"You really think this boy isn't a threat?"

"I don't know Kakashi. But look at him. I can't just abandon him and I can't kill him, he's too like Naruto,"

"I really hope that bleeding heart of yours doesn't get us all killed one day Hokage-sama,"

"So do I Kakashi, So do I,"

After picking up the small naked child the two of them disappeared.

xXx

(Konoha Orphanage)

"Hey wake up sleepy head!" Naruto said as he slapped the small boy upside the head to get him up. The orphanage generally had a myriad of chores to be done and the blonde would be damned if he had to do some by himself when this new kid could help him.

Gohan groaned as he woke up, his head pounding. He wasn't sure what had happened last night or where he was, but there was a loud blue eyed blonde kid around his age yelling at him for some reason.

"Where am I?"

"What?"

Neither of them had any idea what the other was saying so Gohan decided to start out simply.

"Son Gohan," he said, pointing to himself.

Getting the hint, the blond pointed to himself, "Uzumaki Naruto!" he said exuberantly.

Before Gohan could even think of how he was going to get through to this blonde he was dragged from the bed by his hand and taken from the room in a rush.

"We've got a lot to do today!" Naruto said loudly as he dragged his new friend through the orphanage.

xXx

Kakashi once again found himself in the office of the Hokage.

"Why did you not bring him in for questioning? Why the orphanage?"

"Because he is young, alone, afraid and doesn't speak our language. It would be better if he got accustomed to Konoha before I tried to get any information out of him, if he could even give any,"

"How do you know he's alone and cannot speak our language?"

"Because Kakashi, he's not of this world. I saw him arrive in some sort of craft falling from the stars. And he was the only occupant."

Kakashi was shocked. That small boy was from the stars? What did that even mean? How did you even travel between celestial objects?

Recovering from the shock and taking the word of the Hokage as law he then asked another question, "Why the orphanage then, surely there are better places for someone like that, someone who might be a great threat or ally?"

"Oh," the Sandaime said with a smile, "Because I have a feeling once language isn't a problem he and our good friend Naruto are going to get along splendidly."

Kakashi could only laugh, "You really are going soft Hokage-sama,"

"Why yes, I probably am, I've been doing this job for far too long. I'm becoming a sentimental old man Kakashi," the Hokage still had his smile, clearly not bothered that Sharingan Kakashi was calling him out.

As Kakashi disappeared with a chuckle and a swirl of leaves he turned out toward the village, looking in the direction of the orphanage.

_I hope I've done the right thing._

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**Hope you liked it guys, let me know what you think and if you want more! :)**_  
_


	2. Brave New World

**Sup guys next chapter is up yay! I have so many ways for this fic to go it's refreshing to write. Might have chapter three up in the next three days :) Maybe**

Disclamer: I do not own Dragon Ball Z or Naruto.

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**Shinobi Son Gohan!**

**Chapter 2: A Brave New World**

* * *

Hiruzen was sitting in his office, the rising sun bathing his back in pink-orange light, when the doors swung inward and his old time friend hobbled through the threshold. He really decided to visit at inconvenient times.

Danzou was wearing the usual, with his black robe that covered his right arm and the bandages wrapped around his head. In his left hand he carried a walking stick that Hiruzen figured was just for appearances. Since when did shinobi ever need walking sticks?

"People are starting to ask questions Hiruzen," the man said to the Hokage, not bothering with the honorific, "Civilians are getting worried and the rest of the council want to know all the details of the incident. Just what exactly happened out there?"

"It's not a problem now. But yes, I will address it in tonight's council meeting to explain the details and discuss the matter,"

Danzou's fist tightened only slightly, but the Hokage picked it up. He obviously wanted the information now.

"You'll have to wait like everyone else Danzou. You're dismissed," the Hokage said sternly.

He needed to get his thoughts in order if he was to ensure the safety of the young boy he found. Hiruzen was not delusional, just because he was Hokage didn't mean people followed your orders to the tee. There might be a 'slip up' in the near future that cost the boy his life, or some 'rogue ninja'. He had to make sure they were convinced the boy wasn't a threat.

It was going to be hard. He wasn't even entirely sure he was convinced of the fact.

Danzou on the other hand was smiling as he exited the office of the Hokage. He would see what the Hokage's plans for this new child weapon were and then he would act accordingly. Let it never be said that Danzou took his underground network of operatives for granted.

xXx

Gohan had no idea how he came to be in the clothes he was in, or where he was, but the blonde that had woken him up seemed friendly enough. Even if they couldn't really communicate too well.

He was wearing a pair of baggy long black pants and a loose-fitting red shirt. On his feet were simple white canvas shoes. Assuming the old man he saw last night before he passed out was responsible he made a note to thank him for his generosity. He also had to find out where his other clothes were though, he had to find his great grandfather's four star dragon ball.

And as his thoughts drifted back to home he struggled to hold back the tears.

The blonde kept looking over and smiling at him as they went about doing chores, which Gohan didn't mind. He had no problem with the boy or the chores and he had a feeling that if they didn't do what they were told here the stern woman that reminded him of his mother that he saw patrolling the large house would definitely have something to say about it.

Maybe punishment would involve a frying pan? He shuddered at the thought.

But that was a problem in and of itself, he kept being reminded, reminded of everything he'd lost. If it weren't for the fact that he really didn't want to upset the boy that was trying to be nice to him he'd have been on the ground crying his eyes out the moment he woke up.

Even with all his concentration focused on doing the chores and trying to be happy about it he still couldn't prevent the breakdown that hit him like a truck halfway through the morning as they were doing dishes.

And when it rained, it poured.

Naruto was quick to notice the tears streaming down the boy's face as they washed dishes. The silent sobbing wracked the black haired boy's body as he stood washing a dish.

_Screw this,_ he thought as he grabbed his new friend's hand and snuck away_. _The kid was lucky he was crying silently, he knew that bitch wasn't a fan of soppy kids. Even ones recently orphaned like this one, the insensitive cow. The amount of crap he had to put up with from her for no particular reason was ridiculous, he didn't know why he didn't just run away sometimes.

Emerging from the house, his crying companion in tow, Naruto quickly made his way to one of his favorite places within the village. Making their way a fair distance from the orphanage and climbing the winding stairs carved into a cliff they soon arrived at the top of the Hokage monument.

The sun was just beginning to properly rise into the sky and as it bathed the village in golden light Naruto couldn't help but smile. He was going to be Hokage someday and this village would be his. Everyone would recognize him for the great man he was!

He noticed a lack of crying and looking over found that Gohan wasn't sobbing anymore. Instead he too found himself captivated by the view the lookout offered.

"So you really can't speak our language huh?" Naruto said uselessly.

Gohan just looked at him quizzically and shrugged, not understanding a word.

Naruto felt for the guy. He barely knew him but he seemed nice enough. And the fact that he was now in the orphanage meant that something horrible must have happened to his parents. No wonder he was crying.

He was lost and alone, like Naruto was alone.

But they didn't have to be alone any longer. They had each other.

Gohan's mind was elsewhere. He had to get back. There had to be some way for him to get back to his family. They couldn't be gone forever!

xXx

Naruto spent the rest of the day exploring the village with Gohan, using the adventure to try and keep him busy. The boy marveled at everything, from the stores, to the variety of people, especially the ones with funny lavender eyes they saw. He obviously didn't get out very much where he was from. Naruto also used this time to try and teach his friend their language. It would do him no good if he couldn't talk to anyone else in Konoha.

Every now and again they had to stop and Naruto had to let his friend vent. Naruto was okay with it. He knew that if he had just lost his family he'd be crying.

He never knew his family, but even he still cried from time to time.

It was late in the night when the two young boys returned to the orphanage, scolding words thrown at them from the headmistress. She hated that little blonde and if that black haired kid was anything like Naruto she was going to hate him too.

But no, she couldn't do anything about them, not even throw them out; Hokage's orders. She had to put up with having the Kyuubi in her orphanage and some strange child the old man had just dropped in a bed last night. And neither of them felt the need to finish their chores!

Both of them scuttled back to their beds as fast as possible, trying not to wake the other children. Naruto didn't need scorn from them either. For some reason none of them liked him anyway. He wondered why?

xXx

"So do you mean to tell us what that racket was last night?" One of the civilians piped up from their section of the table.

Hiruzen had just concluded the first half of the meeting, addressing everything that was of concern to the civilians. This was definitely not something he was going to share with everyone.

"If you would please excuse us."

"Excuse you? What is the meaning of this Hokage!"

"There are some things that must not be shared with the public, to put it bluntly I do not trust you. There are very few people I would trust this information to in actuality but I must reveal the secret to some. The situation has been handled and the source of last night's disturbance has been dealt with. Now you will excuse us," the Hokage said more sternly, anger in his eyes at the insolence.

The civilians got up grumbling and left the meeting room. Only clan heads, the high-ranking Jounin, the two elders and Danzou remained in the room, along with the Hokage's hidden bodyguards.

"Cat before we proceed did you inform the ANBU that were present last night of this meeting?"

The ANBU stepped from the shadows and nodded.

"Good, fetch them now, this involves them as well."

Danzou wasn't exactly happy that this was being drawn out. And why were ANBU allowed to hear what was said. He understood that they had been involved in subduing the beast-child, but this didn't have to involve them. Unless he was giving a command.

He would just have to wait and see what his sentimental friend had in store, and what exactly he planned to share.

After all the ANBU had filed in to the room, standing at the back away from the table the Hokage spoke, "As you all know, the village came close to falling under attack last night. If it were not for your efforts, especially yours Cat," the Hokage said, turning his head toward his bodyguard, "there may have been serious loss of life,"

"What was the threat?" Fugaku Uchiha spoke up. As the head of the police force he needed to know about threats to the safety of the village.

"I was getting to that," Hiruzen said, annoyed at the interruption, "We came under attack from a monster that was … dealt with,"

"What are you not telling us father?" Asuma said from his position within the Jounin.

The old man sighed, "the monster… a child… a child I found within the forest while investigating a disturbance with my bodyguard detail turned into the monster that caused the destruction that you no doubt all heard and will see if you venture a few miles out from the main gate. I called for ANBU reinforcements which arrived while I kept the monster busy and helped me deal with the problem, this is why they have been allowed to hear what I have to say."

"You say a child turned into a monster? What did you do with this child? Is it dead?" Homura the elder councilman spoke up.

"No," the Hokage said to only a few shocked faces. Most of the people in the room knew what kind of man the Hokage was. He'd spare a life if he could. It was the reason Orochimaru was still at large.

"Then what became of him," Homura asked once again.

This time Danzou was interested. He would have had one of his ANBU tail the Hokage but if he'd been caught-out there would be investigations. And investigations weren't the greatest way to keep a covert operation covert.

"I have put him in the orphanage," the Hokage said. Now people weren't exactly happy.

"A child that was a threat to the entire village and you just put him in an orphanage!" Koharu exclaimed.

"Sounds rather familiar doesn't it?" Danzou added slyly, getting a stern look from the old man in charge.

"I'll not have any of that! He is just a child and his monstrous transformation has been dealt with thanks to Cat, although I believe she performed the attack unknowing that the tail of the beast was the source of it's power,"

"Tail? Beast? So we are dealing with a Jinchuuriki?" Gai wondered what particular beast it was if that was the case.

"No he's not a Jinchuuriki, as far as I can tell, and like I said, I think it is in our best interests to let him live in Konoha. I know not where he is from, but I know that he is alone."

"Yes," Danzou spoke up from next to the elders, "For once I agree, it would be best to keep him under surveillance and alive. He may be useful in the future, and if we were to turn him out another village may discover whatever power is hidden within him and turn it against us,"

Hiruzen's expression darkened, it was very rare that Danzou ever agreed with him.

"Yes, and on a final note do not inform anyone of this. If people ask what the disturbance was and questions are being asked tell them that we were under attack from a rogue force and that the ANBU Cat was responsible for bringing them to safety. It is better that they focus on a hero within the ranks than a possible but unlikely threat within their midst. The punishment for this will be the same as the punishment for speaking of the nature of Naruto's secret."

One of the ANBU in the ranks at the back of the room, wearing a dog mask, looked to move to be in a position to speak when the Hokage finished, "My decision is final, there will be no discussion," he said firmly, "The boy is not to be harmed and he will be watched. The fact that he and Naruto were observed getting along today will make observation easier."

"Now I'd like to speak with you three," Hiruzen looked over at the three elder council members as he said this, "Kakashi, Ibiki, Shikaku and Inoichi remain behind also. Everyone else, you are dismissed."

The rest of the high-ranking jounin eyed Kakashi curiously, but knew not to make a fuss. They would get their answers if the Hokage deemed it necessary. It didn't mean they weren't a little annoyed though.

Naturally the Hokage's detail remained behind also.

"Okay, to get to the really important information. I called the main meeting so that none of the ANBU made a move against the boy or revealed his true nature to the public. Now we must discuss the true nature of the child. What have you been able to determine from the craft Ibiki, Inoichi?"

"The thing was pretty beaten up when we brought it in, and it doesn't seem to be able to power up. Although it might just be we don't know how. The technology involved is amazing. If we can reverse engineer even half of the tech from this thing we'll be well off, that's for sure." Ibiki said, the scars on his face moving animatedly as he spoke in the low light.

"What craft?" Danzou had heard nothing of a craft from his operative. This was definitely news to him.

"I said I did not know where the boy was from because he is from the stars. I have no idea how but he fell from the sky last night in a craft that seemingly allows safe travel between celestial objects. How I do not know. But what it means is that we aren't as alone as we thought."

Everyone who wasn't in the know, meaning the three elders and Shikaku, were in shock.

"Th-the implications," Homaru stuttered out.

"Yes we know," Kakashi said, "the question though is what we are going to do with this information."

"The people in this room are the only people that know of the nature of the boy and the craft. Everyone else that is working on the craft do not know the relationship it had with the boy and the ANBU that fought him do not know of the craft. It was buried under rubble by the time they arrived," the Hokage explained, "What is worrisome is that a small child could not come up with technology like that. So there are others. We are not alone and who knows how powerful some of the beings out there are?"

Shikaku was still sitting stunned in silence as is mind ticked away at trying to comprehend the possibilities and implications. This was mind-boggling.

"Hokage-sama," Inoichi spoke softly, getting the attention of everyone in the room, "There's something else. We found a small object within the craft, a golden orb with four red stars on it. Preliminary investigations show that it contains immense power. Easily enough to overpower a Biju. We are unsure of just how to access this power though. It may not be possible."

"That is fine," the Hokage said, not one to miss the greedy look that slipped across Danzou's face for just a second, "For now we must focus on keeping the boy safe until he can tell us his story and continue trying to obtain information and technology from the craft. As long as this power is contained and isn't a threat it is not our top priority."

xXx

Naruto and Gohan slept, a peaceful look on their faces as a shadow crept over them. A man stood above them, kunai in hand as he brought the blade down toward the neck of the young Saiyan silently.

Just as he was about to spill the blood of an innocent child a shadow dropped from the ceiling. The knees of the newcomer landing on his shoulders and twisting turned his head to a grotesque angle as the ANBU wearing a cat mask snapped his neck.

His body hit the ground between the two beds like a sack of potatoes and a dog mask fell from his face. Yuugao quickly picked up the mask and the attacker before disappearing in an instant.

By the time Gohan awoke from the pleasant dream he was having, a dream where he was still on Earth, there was no one there.

He tried to fall back to sleep, to get back the wonderful dream he'd been having, only this time when he closed his eyes all he could see was the image of Raditz standing over his father laughing.

The half Saiyan didn't sleep well that night.

xXx

"You were right to have me send a shadow clone to the meeting Hokage-sama. It wasn't long after the ANBU left the meeting that one of them made an attempt on the boy's life," Yuugao said, casting the dog mask on desk in front of him.

"The body?"

"Disposed of accordingly,"

"Good. This however is troubling. To think that an assassination attempt would occur so soon. Hmmmm, I'll be reassigning your duties Cat. From this day onward you will be one of the two prime observers and protectors of Gohan and Naruto. It might do the village citizens good to see the latest hero out and about."

"I thought we weren't meant to be seen?"

"It wouldn't hurt to make an appearance or two," The old man said with a somber smile.

"And my partner is?" Yuugao queried, she didn't want to be working with some stiff.

"You will be working with Hatake Kakashi, and as the boys may not always be together at all times, you'll need more manpower. I'll give you a list of the shinobi I deem trustworthy enough for this protection detail and you two can discuss whom you want on the team. I have a feeling that keeping this boy alive is of the utmost importance. He might be a potential risk to the village. But visitors from the stars could be a risk to our entire world. If there was ever a mission you don't want to fail, it is this one."

"Hai Hokage-sama," Yuugao said before disappearing in a shunshin, looking for the infamous Kakashi of the Sharingan to discuss the mission. He'd no doubt be tailing the children.

xXx

Gohan was always a quick study, but it was always going to take him time to learn a new language. The first day spent with Naruto was enough for him to get used to salutations and getting a handle on what the language sounded like.

But he had so much left to learn. If he was ever going to get back to his planet he'd need to know the language. There had to be some way back right? There just had to be.

Every time the demi-saiyan thought about it tears came to his eyes.

Sitting on a set of swings in a park fighting back tears he was listening to Naruto and trying to understand the language as the boy pointed at things and said words.

It wasn't long before two other boys walked over to them.

They were older by a few years and noticeably taller.

Both of them had brown hair, one with blue eyes and the other with brown. The brown-eyed boy was wearing a blue collared shirt and white shorts while the blue eyed boy was wearing a black tee and long blue pants. Both of them were sneering down at the boys in front of them.

"Hey," the blue eyed one said to his counterpart, "I wonder if we can make these two brats cry like we did that purple-eyed freak,"

"Hahaha yeah I'd like to see this blonde and his bestie cry like that little girl," He took a step forward as he said this and pointed at Naruto, "Especially blondie here. Why can't you take a hint, the whole village hates you!"

Gohan's fist clenched. He didn't know what these boys were saying but he knew it wasn't nice. These boys were mean. Mean bullies that reminded him of Raditz. He wasn't going to let them push Naruto around like Raditz pushed around his father.

"Whatever you big doofus," Naruto said as he got up from his swing, "You don't scare me!"

Naruto didn't notice the angry look in the eyes of his friend, his fists clenched..

"We'll teach you and your friend you brats!" the bully yelled.

The large brown-eyed boy pulled his fist back ready to strike out at Naruto.

He wasn't going to let these bullies beat up his friend. He wasn't going to be as helpless as he was back then.

Gohan charged off the swing he was sitting on and jumped into the air, shoulder charging the large bully to the ground. He reared his fist back ready to strike before hesitating, his non-violent nature surfacing again.

The other boy kicked him straight in the ribs, knocking him off his friend sideways, before Naruto tackled the legs out from under him, getting one good punch on his face.

It didn't take much for the large boy to reverse the situation, pinning the young blonde to the ground and going to town on his face.

The other bully was doing the same to Gohan now that they'd gotten the upper hand.

xXx

Yuugao had just managed to find and replace Kakashi, giving him a break so that he'd be fresh for when he replaced her later that night when she saw the fight break out.

This was going to be so much easier when they had a proper team. Due to the nature of this new arrival the Hokage had decided to rebuild the detail from scratch, starting with Yuugao and Kakashi. The stakes were higher now, they didn't know what would happen if they were to fail.

When it was clear to Yuugao that the young orphans weren't going to get the better of the bullies she jumped into the park, her mask covering her features.

She was actually impressed with the way the little black haired kid had come to the defense of Naruto. When he wasn't a raging ape she had to admit that he was either pretty brave, or really stupid.

Just the appearance of an adult, let alone a shinobi was enough to scare the older bullies away.

Walking over to the bruised and beaten kids the ANBU looked down, "Are you guys alright, I was just passing through here and saw what happened,"

Naruto was frankly embarrassed that he'd been caught getting beaten up by bullies while Gohan was grateful for the interruption of their beat down.

"Yeah, we're okay," Naruto mumbled dejectedly, wiping his bloodied nose and nursing his arm. Gohan rubbed his ribs and touched at a bruise forming on his face.

Naruto looked the newcomer up and down, noting the kick-ass porcelain mask before blatantly blurting out, "Who are you?"

"The name's Cat kid, try not to get in fights with guys bigger than you, or at least get better at fighting back. One day an adult might not be around to stop the fight," She said before turning to leave.

"Okay Cat-sama. Do you think you could help us get better at defending ourselves?" Naruto's use of the honorific sama and the request for help stopped her in her tracks. She had a feeling she was going to like this kid.

"Maybe in the future, if you graduate from the academy, until then not a chance boys," the mystery nin said before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"Wow, that is so cool when they do that," Naruto said his eyes sparkling in admiration.

Looking over at his beaten friend Naruto decided they should call it a day, urging him to walk back to the orphanage with him. Gohan really couldn't say no so they left, making their way to the edge of the park before Naruto turned to his new friend.

"Gohan?"

"Hai?" The young boy had grasped enough of the language to understand that hai meant yes.

"Thanks," the blonde said with a huge grin on his face.

Gohan couldn't help but smile either as they walked back to the orphanage.

As Cat observed them leaving from her perch in the trees her mind couldn't help but drift to the feeling she'd gotten just before the fight had broken out.

xXx

Kakashi had come to relieve Yuugao of her duties as the night began to progress, and the first thing she'd done was make her way to the Hokage.

The old man was still very much awake and working in his office. He really did despise long days. Then again short days were rare for someone in his position.

What he was worried about was why Yuugao had seen fit to come and give a report; it hadn't even been a day. Had there been another assassination attempt already?

"What is it Cat?"

"The boys were attacked," the Hokage sighed, "by some bullies," Yuugao continued, relieving the worry in his eyes slightly, "but that is not why I am here,"

"It's to do with Gohan then?"

"Yes, just before the bullies attacked them I felt something strange, but it was only for an instant. I felt something incredible emanating from the boy. Something that felt like Chakra but also not like Chakra at the same time; an incredibly potent energy. It happened just before he shoulder charged the attacker to the ground, and it was gone just as quickly."

"Do you have any idea what it might have been? Could it be related to his transformation?" If this boy was releasing power like that maybe his tail hadn't been the source of his transformation. Maybe they'd just lucked out? This was worrisome indeed.

"I have no idea,"

Once again the Hokage was wondering whether he'd done the right thing in letting the boy live.

"It doesn't change what we have to do Cat. He still needs to be observed. If it happens again report to me immediately,"

"Hai, Hokage-sama,"

"You're dismissed, get some rest,"

Yuugao was gone in a matter of moments as the Hokage went back to trying to sort through paperwork, his mind racing at the new information. He was having difficulty getting any work done when there was a knock at the door. Taking the distraction as a godsend he called out, "Enter."

An average sized shinobi wearing ANBU combat gear and black hair stood in front of him.

"Ahh, how was your mission?" the Hokage asked, addressing the unmasked man standing in front of him.

"Uneventful," the ANBU replied coolly.

"Good, good. Now there are a few things that you must know. Much has changed in the past few days and I fear the balance within the village we've worked so hard to maintain is at risk."

If there was one thing Hiruzen knew, it was that he could trust Uchiha Itachi.

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**Again not entirely massive, but I feel these chapter lengths are good for starting this story up and building momentum. I'm trying not to write to a specific length. Just to get certain scenes done and if it's a long chap it's long if not whatever :P**

**Anyway hope you enjoyed, don't forget to Read and Review!**

**Have a good one.**


	3. Life in the Village

**Sup guys?**

**Sorry this has taken so long, I had a rough draft of it written up just days after the submission of the last chapter, but I got writers block when I was revising it and adding scenes that frankly needed to be added. So that has kind of held me up in getting it out. Thanks for being patient, I haven't given up on this story. I've got a decent amount planned for the next few chapters, I just need the motivation to write, so whether it's a week, or a month just know that there will be more chapters eventually, anyway enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dragon Ball Z.

* * *

**Shinobi Son Gohan!**

**Chapter 3: Life in the Village**

* * *

Itachi may have just been a ten-year-old chunin but it didn't change the fact that he was one hell of a shinobi. He'd only been a chunin for a month when the Hokage had come to him with the offer of ANBU.

His skill in the art of the ninja was extraordinary and it wasn't something that Hiruzen had missed when his actions in the field had been reported. It quickly resulted in his secret induction within the ranks of ANBU. Officially the boy would have to jump through many more hoops before he could become an ANBU but the Hokage simply couldn't allow talent such as his to be wasted.

In the six months that he'd been ANBU he'd saved countless lives and averted more national and internal disasters than Hiruzen would care to admit. He was simply one of the most methodical agents that the Sandaime had had a pleasure of dealing with.

What Hiruzen liked most about his young ANBU though was not his skills, but his attitude. The Hokage of the hidden leaf knew of the young Uchiha's pacifistic disposition.

Itachi wouldn't resort to violence unless absolutely necessary and that was what made him great at diffusing situations. Whether he was relieving tensions during encounters with foreign shinobi in the field, between clans within the village of Konoha or between the villages of the Elemental Nations, Hiruzen had come to rely on the ability of one Uchiha Itachi.

The boy had even saved his life, uncovering information that a there was a rogue group hidden within the village planning a coup. Had Hiruzen not received the intelligence when he did they may well have succeeded in ending his life. He never uncovered who was behind the planned attack but the Hokage had his list of suspects.

That was how Itachi found himself on the protection detail of two particular orphans; orphans that might prove dangerous to the safety of the village.

Between his skills, pacifistic nature, reliability and trustworthiness the Hokage hadn't even needed to think about his choice. Although Itachi had other duties, ranging from small missions to missions integral to the stability of the village, he was also able to make time to relieve Yuugao and Kakashi on the odd occasion.

He'd just finished his first shift, having been replaced by a refreshed Yuugao and was heading home. The Uchiha had had a long month and to be frank was looking forward to seeing his family, especially Sasuke. Itachi knew he wouldn't have the time to train properly with his little brother, which would upset the young ninja in training, but Itachi could at least give him some quick pointers.

From everything the Hokage had said about the two orphans you'd think they were malicious evil children, and while Itachi had had a few run ins with the blonde when he occasionally took shifts up for his dad working in the police force he couldn't say that they were anything other than regular playful kids.

The short time he'd spent in his first shift on protection had only reinforced his view that these were simply kids trying to have fun and make fun in a village that didn't look too kindly on them. And he wasn't working for his dad, so he was going to let them prank the absolute pants off whoever was stupid enough to get caught out, even if the new arrival in Gohan hadn't been keen on Naruto's antics.

How they sparred and simply spent time together was how he wished he could spend time with Sasuke sometimes.

Even so, he wouldn't drop his guard around these kids, as much as they reminded him of his brother and as much as he envied how carefree they seemed to be as they ran around, exploring the village and causing havoc. He had seen the damage caused by the so-called transformation of the black haired boy and he had witnessed the attack of the Kyuubi.

The truth of the matter was that these boys could be as childish as they wanted but they held terrible powers that neither of them seemed to know about. They had to be protected from people willing to steal that power, but more importantly the people of the village needed to be protected in case that power was ever unleashed. Itachi was not going to have a repeat of the attack on the village five years ago. He'd been old enough to remember that attack.

Uchiha Itachi's thoughts ran away with him as he pondered the situation the village was now in and it wasn't long before he found himself at his place of residence.

Dropping over the side fence to their yard he noticed his young brother throwing shuriken at a training dummy, his back turned to him.

Sneaking up to Sasuke, Itachi jabbed him in the ribs lightly with two fingers, "Gotchya," he said light heartedly.

"What?!" Sasuke screamed.

The younger Uchiha almost jumped out of his skin. His brother was a ghost, and having been focused so hard on hitting the targets in front of him with a precision that would make his father proud he'd never heard his idol sneak up on him.

Composing himself and with a pout Sasuke turned to his brother, "You have to stop sneaking up on me like that!" he crossed his arms as he finished.

"You just need to get better little brother," Itachi said, poking his sibling in the forehead before he could do anything about it, "And flick your wrist less next time, you'll have better luck with those targets,"

Sasuke huffed as his brother started to walk inside, but he couldn't keep the faux hurt look on his face, sprinting after Itachi to give him a hug from behind.

"It's good to have you back nii-san!"

"It's good to be back," Itachi said, peeling his brother's arms off him as he pat him on the head and opened the sliding door, just in time for dinner to be served.

Between his previous missions outside the village, the information on Gohan being revealed to him, taking care of some other village business pertaining to his ongoing missions and his relief shift for Kakashi and Yuugao before he headed home, Itachi hadn't seen his family in over three weeks.

Mikoto had just been in the process of setting the table when her two children came walking through the back door.

"Mother," Itachi said with a smile pulling her into a hug, "Father," he added, addressing the man sitting at the table, before sitting down.

"When did you get back from your mission?" Mikoto asked, surprised that her son was back. She'd not heard from anyone that he was back in the village; she had noticed that of late though. That his missions were becoming more secretive, and that he was away from home for rather large amounts of time; which was strange for a fresh chunin. Maybe that meant they were grooming him for ANBU? Fugaku would surely be proud of that.

"Only just now," he lied, his smile never faltering. Until he was officially a part of the ANBU ranks no one was to know about his position. It gave him the advantage of people not knowing his true strength, or his whereabouts.

A simple chunin, even if he was a genius Uchiha garnered much less attention than the same Uchiha who'd officially reached the rank of ANBU. It would also rock the boat less amongst the clans if it looked like an effort had been made for him to reach that position.

"Son," the eldest Uchiha of the household, and head of the Konoha police force said from his position at the head of the table, "how was the mission?"

"Simple enough," Itachi said calmly, not really wanting to share any of the details with his family, seeing as how there were only a few select people that knew of his true position within the village.

"Good, good, I'm glad to say that I'm making progress in getting you in a position to be inducted into the ANBU ranks, you might have more of a challenge then," Fugaku said with a smile. He really was proud of his son, advancing to such a rank at such a young age. His own son, the talk of the village, the genius Uchiha; he knew when he'd started training his eldest son that he would rise to greatness swiftly.

Before Itachi could respond Sasuke turned to his elder brother with awe in his eyes, "Wow nii-chan! You're going to be an ANBU already? That is so cool!" the young boy was excited for his brother, his eyes wide with admiration before a thought occurred to him and he turned to his father, "Does that mean when nii-san is promoted you'll have time to train me?"

"Hahaha, father is very busy with village business Sasuke. You have to put the effort in yourself if you want to get stronger," Itachi said, ruffling the hair of boy who had taken a seat beside him, "I might be around the village more now though, so I could always help if I have time free."

"YES!" Sasuke was so excited about being able to spend more time with his brother, although his mother quickly shut him down as she reentered the room with their dinner.

"Now, now Sasuke, you shouldn't bother Itachi if he has missions he has to complete."

"Hahaha, it's fine mother, when I have the time I'll help Sasuke a little," Itachi said before his brother could get upset. Between his father focusing on work and trying to get him a promotion and Itachi always being on missions Sasuke really wasn't getting much help with his training, "But I don't know when I'll be free brother," the genius added before his brother could get too excited.

"And thank you father for the help with my promotion," Itachi added, having not been able to 'thank' his father until then. While he didn't need it, he appreciated the effort his father was putting into his advancement, even if he did think his father should put more effort into training Sasuke. Itachi really didn't need the help anymore.

"Anything for you my boy," his son would be one of the greatest shinobi to ever live. He would see to that. The Uchiha clan would rise to the greatness of eras past, riding on the shoulders of the greatest Uchiha the clan had seen for generations.

xXx

(Meanwhile – With Naruto and Gohan)

Having Itachi on the squad was a lifesaver. The extra man that they could rotate out was enough that Yuugao and Kakashi could actually go and do other things. Which was good for the teenage girl. She hadn't been looking forward to running a protection detail like the one she was a part of with only two shinobi, but having Itachi added to the squad so soon after its creation meant that the young kunoichi might actually be able to see her boyfriend.

She'd been putting off telling him that they might not be able to see each other as often. Doing that to Hayate wasn't on her list of fun things to do.

Yuugao had been following the boys for roughly a quarter of an hour now and she had to say they were amusing. Naruto seemed to want to prank the pants off of everyone in sight whereas the young black haired alien was rather well mannered. They couldn't communicate too well so it was mostly just Gohan pouting and trying to prevent Naruto from sabotaging display stands and placing things above doorways.

They were cute; one a miniature devil, the other the voice of reason. Gohan had obviously never wanted for attention, because the boy was actually rather kind. She assumed he had parents where he was from, because he behaved completely differently to the blonde rascal that the entire village resented.

That was something she had never understood. Maybe it was because she didn't lose anyone in the attack? Or because she'd spent enough time with the Hokage that his views were starting to rub off on her, but she didn't think that Naruto should be treated the way he was.

Part of her wanted to jump down and spend time with the two boys but she didn't want to blow her cover if she didn't have to. They'd probably freak out too if they knew she was hanging around them. People didn't like being followed by strangers, even people who actively went out of their way to get the bad kind of attention.

Naruto finally gave up in his attempt to rig a bucketful of water he'd found and filled in an attempt to drench someone at Gohan's request. Gohan had no idea why Naruto was doing what he was doing; why would he do such silly things? Didn't he have anyone to teach him manners?

_Oh, right. Orphan_.

Still that didn't mean that he should go around pranking people. Maybe that was why those bullies had attacked them?

His mother had too big a hand in raising him for him to prank anyone; she'd never allow such mischief. Part of him wondered what his father would do, he had an idea about that though, because part of him was niggling away in the back of his mind, urging him to go ahead and prank someone. It was all just innocent fun right?

That was what he thought until a loud crash echoed down the street. Looks like someone had tried leaning on something that Naruto had gotten his hands on.

"NARUTO!" a voice screamed down the street, causing the young blonde to look back towards the shop with a shit eating grin on his face before he turned and bolted, causing Gohan to give chase.

"Nah Nah! I'm gonna be Hokage!" He screamed as he sprinted away from the scene of the crime.

Gohan could only wonder what was going on. The only word he'd recognized was 'Naruto' and that was a name. He really hoped he'd pick this language up faster than he was. That guy sounded angry though, so he also hoped he could run faster than him, or at least faster than Naruto.

He liked to think he'd made a difference. That Naruto had pranked less today than he had in the past, but for every prank Gohan had managed to dissuade the blonde from he'd still managed to execute another.

Yuugao had to admit, for someone that liked attention the little shit could definitely be subtle. He might make a good ninja one day if he pulled his head in.

xXx

The sun was setting over the village and a small black haired girl with lavender eyes sat on the stairs of her home trying to fight back the tears that were worming their way to the surface.

She was useless. She couldn't stop those bullies from talking down to her and she couldn't stop them from attacking her.

Would she ever amount to anything?

She had just started training with her father and while she was making some progress she could see in his eyes that she wasn't progressing fast enough.

It didn't happen often, but the stern man that was Hiashi Hyuuga would occasionally snap, losing patience with his daughter. He did after all need a strong heir to carry on the legacy of their clan.

What would happen if she couldn't meet his standards? Would he hate her? Did he already hate her?

And then there was Neji. Ever since that fateful night, when those Kumo ninja had taken her uncle, he would look at her with scorn in his eyes and would put her down every chance he got.

Neji hated her. Father hated her. Those mean boys hated her. Was there anyone that didn't hate her?

"Hinata?" a kind voice sounded out from above and turning to look up the young girl saw the one person in the world that didn't hate her.

Hinata quickly tried to hide the bruise that had formed on her face as she turned away from the woman that sat down next to her, the woman's bulging stomach indicating that she was in the final stages of a pregnancy.

"What's wrong Hinata?" her mother asked as she got comfortable, "Who did that to you?" she asked with concern when she saw the dark bruise partially hidden underneath her daughter's hand.

"It's n-nothing," she said. She didn't want her mother to think she was useless as well.

"Come now, it is hardly nothing. Let's go inside and see if we can't find something for that okay?"

"Mother…" Hinata said quietly, not moving from where she sat.

"Yes darling?"

"D-do you th-think I'm useless?"

"Of course not. You are my wonderful daughter. What would make you say that?" she said, pulling her daughter into a hug when the she saw tears running down her face.

Looking up from her mother's embrace Hinata decided to tell her.

"Well, F-father is getting impatient b-because I'm not learning fast enough. I think he hates me. N-neji hates me. Two b-boys yesterday told me I was a useless freak and then h-hit me. I'm just a useless lump and everyone h-hates me"

Her mother's eyes narrowed as she went through why she thought she was useless.

She'd need to talk to Hiashi about what he was doing to Hinata and she needed to find out about these bullies. There wasn't much she could do about Neji though; he'd just have to grow out of that if he could.

Pulling her daughter even closer the kind woman whispered, "You are not useless my beautiful child. You are the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me and I will always love you."

That got Hinata to calm down a little, brining the tears to a halt and a small smile to the girl's features.

"Really?"

"Really,"

"Thanks," Hinata hugged her mother tightly as all her worries disappeared.

xXx

It had been a week since the boy's fateful beat down and Gohan was actually starting to get a hang of the language. The boy couldn't speak fluently but after hearing nothing but the foreign language the words were coming to him more easily.

They finished up their chores quickly before they headed out to an open parkland area, this one sitting near a path that ran along the water.

"Okay," Naruto said as he turned to his friend, "let's fight!"

"What?" Gohan wasn't the type to fight for no reason, what exactly was his friend on about?

"Well if we want to be awesome and if we want to stand up to those bullies we need to get better at fighting! So we should spar whenever we get the chance to get better!"

Gohan figured that was a sound idea and got into what he thought was a decent fighting stance.

Only to have Naruto charge him to the ground, easily pushing him over and trying to hit him while he was down. Most of the attacks landed.

"COME ON GOHAN, DODGE! DODGE! DODGE! DO SOMETHING!" the blonde screamed. He wasn't hitting Gohan as hard as he could, but he was making an example of him for letting him get the advantage.

Gohan quickly came to his senses, otherwise it wouldn't be long before he'd be seeing stars, and blocked a punch, pushing the boy off and punching him in the chest, allowing him room to back away and get to his feet.

As they both got to their feet, panting, they heard a small giggle, causing both of their heads to snap in the direction of the sound.

There was a small girl standing and watching them from a distance. She had strange lavender, almost white, eyes and long black hair and she looked to be trying to cover her face with her hands. Occasionally she would move her hands away from her face, pushing her two index fingers together, before she went back to hiding behind them.

"W-what are you two doing?" she asked timidly through her hands when they looked over to her. She approached them slowly.

After her ordeal with the bullies a week ago she wasn't taking any chances and her escort was sitting on the bench she'd just gotten up from, making sure to keep an eye on her. After her father had found out about the incident she hadn't gotten much alone time.

Hinata normally wouldn't have ever bothered talking to these boys, but they were curious. They looked like they were getting along, until the blonde started to beat the other one up. She could only wonder why.

"What does it look like? We were sparring," Naruto said loudly, annoyed that this girl couldn't work it out.

She giggled again, "That's not how you spar silly, that's just roughhousing," she said with a smile. Hinata didn't get a nasty feeling from these two like the two boys yesterday. Maybe they were nicer? Maybe they'd be her friends?

"Aren't those the same things?"

The shy girl shook her head; she knew the difference. Her father was training her to be the head of the clan after all.

"Here," Hinata said as she finally made her way to them, getting into a stance, "you spar like th…"

Before she could even begin her explanation her bodyguard interrupted her.

"Hinata-sama, it is time to leave, leave that riff-raff alone,"

He'd entertained her curiosity for a little while, but she was getting too friendly with the Kyuubi and that black haired orphan. Well he figured he was an orphan. The only way he'd be hanging around that blonde was if he had no one to tell him otherwise.

Gohan was disappointed that the cute black haired girl that had mustered the courage to talk to them had to leave, and he didn't like the way that the guard had addressed them.

"What's your name?" the half-Saiyan called out after the girl as she left them alone, "I'm Gohan!"

"I'm Hinata," she said just loud enough for him to hear as she walked away with a sad expression on her face. She might have been able to make some friends.

Hinata just wanted people her age to play with.

Before Gohan could ponder on the situation any longer his blonde friend called out to him, "DODGE!"

"What?" Gohan's question was swiftly answered when a fist bounced off his face, knocking him back.

"Hey I wasn't ready!"

"So?" Naruto asked with a shit-eating grin on his face; you had to be ready all the time.

"Good point," Gohan added before charging back to attack.

The two boys roughhoused for the rest of the afternoon, having the time of their lives.

xXx

Yuugao couldn't help but laugh at the two youngsters as they rolled around on the ground beating the snot out of each other, with Naruto shouting 'DODGE!' every time he went to attack. While not very ninja-like it made for great entertainment as she sat up in the tree trying hard to stay professional as she kept an eye on the spectacle.

It wasn't long before the sun began to set in the sky and she heard Kakashi land beside her in the trees.

"How is everything?" The silver haired man asked, coming to a complete stop, his face buried in Icha Icha.

"You know sometimes I think you shouldn't be doing this job if all you do is read that smut. What if these two kids get taken while you're busy jerking off somewhere?"

"What? Starting to get attached to these kids are you Yuugao?" Kakashi said with an eyesmile before he turned back to his book and added, "You know I'd never let that happen,"

The ANBU was lucky her mask covered the blush that crept up her face at Kakashi's accusation. She enjoyed watching them have a good time together that was for sure. Whenever she'd seen Naruto around the village before Gohan he'd always been miserable. And now, well, he was like any other regular kid playing with his best friend.

Maybe she was getting a little sentimental. She had spent most of her waking hours tailing these kids until they could start getting more shinobi on the squad. They'd just had Yamato join the group as more relief protection. The now two expert ANBU in Itachi and Yamato had other duties to attend to, but they were trusted enough by the Hokage that they would help out whenever they could. She liked Yamato's attitude, but she wasn't sure about Itachi, he seemed a little too good to be true.

She stopped wondering when Kakashi cleared his throat, "Well, you can go now," he said calmly.

"Oh, right," she said, having snapped out of her stupor, and with that the former bodyguard of the Hokage went to see if Hayate wasn't working. It'd been a while since they'd got any time to go on anything resembling a date.

xXx

Hinata was disappointed that she hadn't been able to make friends with the two boys at the park. They'd seemed nice enough, even if the blonde one had been hitting the black haired one. He seemed okay though; he mustn't have been hurt.

Walking into the house, making sure to take her shoes off she said goodbye to her escort and went to find her mother and tell her all about her adventures for the day.

"Mother?" Hinata called out quietly when she reached the master bedroom.

"Come in Hinata," a weak voice said from beyond the threshold. There was something wrong. Her voice was normally much more vibrant. What had happened?

Opening the door slowly the young Hyuuga poked her head in to find an amazing sight.

Her mother was smiling, "You have a new baby sister Hinata," she said.

She was lying under the covers of the bed, more pale than usual, holding a small bundle of cloth; cloth that contained Hinata's new little sister!

"Does she have a name?" Hinata asked excitedly as she ran up to the side of the bed, the pitter-patter of her feet hitting the floor loud in the silence of the room.

"This Hinata, is Hanabi," her mother said with a smile, "She was born half and hour ago so your Father has been and gone, but you can stay as long as you like if you want,"

Hinata beamed as she sat on the side of the bed with her mother and her baby sister, nodding in affirmation.

xXx

(One Week Later)

"So what do you want to do today?" Naruto asked his one and only friend Gohan.

"Ummmm, how about we go look at the shops? I want to see all the cool stuff you can buy here," Gohan said.

"Surely it's the same stuff from your village," the blonde, replied. Confused as to why Gohan was so excited about looking at things they didn't have the money to buy, "besides, the shopkeepers don't really like me, I don't know why," he added dejectedly.

"Well that's strange. My mom always taught me to be courteous and kind, I wonder why they don't like you. You're the coolest guy ever!" Gohan said enthusiastically, although his heart felt the pang of pain that was brought about with the memory of his mother.

"Yeah well don't ask me, I don't have a clue,"

"Well maybe if we go in and ask nicely they'll let us look around." Gohan said hopefully. Aside from the bullies Gohan hadn't really met anyone mean in Konoha. He didn't think the head mistress at the orphanage was mean; she was just stern.

Sure people ignored him and Naruto, but he thought that was because they were orphans. It was rude, but he had Naruto so it didn't matter.

Gaining the confidence to walk into a shop Gohan pulled Naruto along with him.

Not three seconds later they were being thrown out, "STAY OUT OF MY SHOP IF YOU CAN'T BUY ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY YOU BLONDIE!"

Gohan was confident that it was just the one mean shopkeeper. But his confidence took hit after hit as they went to shop after shop and were thrown out.

Occasionally a shopkeeper would let them look around for a little while before asking them to leave politely.

Other times they wouldn't even get a foot in the door before they were yelled at.

The only people Gohan could say that were nice to Naruto in the slightest were the old man and his daughter that worked at the ramen place. They didn't look at them with scorn or completely ignore them. The aged man even smiled at Naruto as they walked past to try and cheer him up.

Too bad they didn't have any money to sit down and eat there. He seemed like a nice guy.

At the end of the ordeal both of them looked dejected as they sat down on a park bench. The wind was blowing their hair around and rustling the leaves of the trees nearby, making it more difficult for anyone to overhear their conversation. They'd need to be sitting in the tree directly above the bench to overhear the conversation. Not that they were worried if someone overheard them.

"Told you they don't like me," Naruto said sadly.

"What have you ever done to get them to hate you?" Gohan asked, concerned for his friend.

"I don't know. I mean I prank them sometimes, you know that," He put his head in his hands as tears started forming at the edges of his eyes, "But that's only because they ignore me,"

Gohan was amazed. His blonde friend always seemed so full of life and energy. This was the first time that he realized that without each other they were both alone in the world.

He'd stick by his friend. He wouldn't let anything come between them. Otherwise they'd be alone again. Gohan didn't want to ever feel that loneliness again. He still felt it from time to time. But he knew there had to be some way to get back to his family.

Yuugao couldn't help feeling sorry for the Jinchuuriki below her. She was finally starting to realize how tough the kid had had it until now. And then Gohan had come into his life and he was actually starting to be livelier. He had a spark in his eyes that she'd never seen before.

Gohan turned to his friend, pulling his feet up onto the bench as he wrapped his arms around his knees to stop his legs falling back to the ground, "What were those cool metal knives and discs that we saw in one of the shops?" Gohan asked, wondering just what they were used for. They looked deadly.

"They were kunai and shuriken," Naruto said wiping the tears from his eyes with a small smile forming on his lips, "Ninja use them and one day I'm going to use them when I become the greatest shinobi ever and become Hokage!"

All Gohan could do was laugh. "So you want to be one of those cool guys with the masks?" Naruto had explained to Gohan that if you wanted to be cool you had to be a ninja and pointed out some of the coolest ninja in the village whenever they were around. The ANBU and the jounin.

Yuugao had to admit, ANBU were pretty cool.

"Nah even cooler. The Hokage is the head of the entire village and he has an awesome hat!" Naruto was just getting more and more fired up as he spoke about his dream.

"I'm gonna go to the academy and learn to be a ninja and then I'm gonna be so awesome they'll just have to make me Hokage, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled to no one in particular, he stood up on the bench and raised a fist in the air, "No one's gonna stop me!"

"Hahahaha that sounds awesome," Gohan said, glad his friend was back to normal.

Naruto calmed down and sat back on the bench, "So what do you want to do when you get older?"

"I want to go back home,"

"Where is your home? Where is that funny language from?" Naruto asked, curious as to where his friend was from and where in the elemental nations they spoke that strange tongue.

"Ummm," Gohan said, looking down at his hands. Unsure as to what he would tell his best friend. He didn't want his friend to think he was nuts, "I don't know if want to tell you, you might think I'm crazy and laugh at me,"

"Oh come on it can't be that bad, I promise I'll believe you!" Naruto exclaimed, he wanted to know more about his friend.

"Okay, well…," Gohan looked around to make sure no one could hear them before leaning over to his friend and whispering in his ear. With each passing second the look on Naruto's face continued to get more ridiculous.

"YOU'RE AN ALIEN!?" he exclaimed when Gohan was finished.

"SHHHHHH," Gohan shushed him as best he could while his friend reacted to the news.

Gohan was worried. He didn't want to lose his only friend. But he hadn't want to lie to him either.

Naruto's face went through a number of expressions as he tried to process the information Gohan had just given him.

How his dad had to fight an alien while Gohan was trapped in a space ship. And how that space ship had taken off and he'd crash landed here. And how his dad was the strongest fighter on his planet. But even still he didn't know if his dad or anyone else had survived.

When he looked like he'd finally processed the information he turned to Gohan with a serious look on his face.

Before he broke into a massive grin, "THAT IS SO COOL! MAN YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME EARLIER, DATTEBAYO!"

Yuugao laughed at all the noise the young boy was making. She couldn't have done anything to stop Gohan from telling Naruto without blowing her cover. Besides she didn't really want to stop him. Naruto would have found out eventually if their friendship so far was anything to go by.

If he could tell Naruto his story it also meant that he could tell the Hokage. She'd inform the head of the village when she got the chance, so he could act on it when he deemed fit.

Then Naruto realized what that meant for his friend.

"But what if you can't get back?" Now it was Naruto's turn to be concerned for his friend.

"There has to be a way," Gohan said, the slight waver in his voice the only thing that revealed the inkling of doubt that had been forming in his mind.

Naruto didn't want to put his friend down. But they didn't have that kind of technology. At least he didn't think they did.

"But what if you can't?"

"I, I don't know what I'll do," Gohan said, tears forming in his eyes this time.

"Well, why don't you become a ninja like me! We can be ninja together and stop bad things from happening!"

This seemed to get the boy to cheer up a little as he thought about being strong enough to stop evil people like Raditz.

"Okay, I'll become a ninja if I can't find a way home." A slight smile touching his lips for a second.

Yuugao was proud of the little rascals. If they were always like this she had a feeling nothing would stand in their way. Gohan was the best thing to ever happen to the small blonde Jinchuuriki of Konoha.

Reapplying herself to the task at hand after her little moment the young prodigy ANBU realized something was wrong. She didn't know what it was, but she had a feeling in her gut. A feeling that something bad was about to happen to the two youngsters sitting below her.

That was when the attack came.

A kunai flashed from a tree on the opposite side of the park with blinding speed.

Reacting in time to launch a shuriken that would knock the kill-shot off path Yuugao turned to find a rogue ANBU lunging at her from behind.

She quickly fell backwards from the tree, landing next to the boys, but before they could say anything Yuugao spoke up, "Gohan, Naruto, you are both in danger, stay near me and I'll keep you safe,"

The ANBU that had attacked her dropped from the tree, his features covered by a bear mask, while another sprinted out from the other side of the clearing her mask depicting a ferret.

Ferret quickly came to a stop out of reach of Yuugao as she tried to protect the two children. They were surrounded, and Yuugao knew that as fast as she was, she wasn't going to be able to get both of them out of harm's way if she tried to flee.

The question then became, could she protect them while fighting two combatants?

What she was most surprised by though was that the attack came in broad daylight and while the park was mostly empty Yuugao could spot a few civilians playing with their children and a young Hyuuga and her bodyguard.

There were witnesses. What were they thinking?

"What? W-what's going on?" Gohan was afraid; these two people had weapons, those kunai things that looked deadly. But what he couldn't work out was why they were in danger. These guys were those ANBU Naruto always pointed out. Weren't they the good guys?

He recognized the Cat mask on the woman that was protecting them. But why was she even in the tree above them to begin with? What was going on?

Naruto looked just as confused as he stood next to his friend, fear in his eyes. Why were they in danger? What was going on? His thoughts and fears mimicked Gohan's.

"You don't have to do this," Yuugao said as she tried to prevent them from advancing any further.

"You think you can stop us?" Bear said as he took another step toward the boys, "it's two against one. And even if we fail there will be others. Don't think that just because we didn't protest to the Hokage's actions that we agree with them!" he lunged at Gohan in an angry strike, intent on taking a life.

"Stay away from my friend!" Naruto yelled at the strange man, stepping between the masked assailant and Gohan.

Gohan watched as the attacker charged toward them, his best friend standing before the threat. The power inside of him grew, threatening to burst out as he prepared to fight the two people that were endangering his friend!

The angry ANBU hesitated just enough at the sight of the blonde in his way for Yuugao to step between the two and separate the man's arm at the elbow with her blade, her blade a silver blur as she unsheathed it and struck in one swift motion.

Ferret had been charging from the other side at the same time, but seeing her partner go down hard gave her just the slightest falter in her step. Yuugao capitalized on the error, turning her body and dashing past the boys in a burst of speed, putting her blade straight through the kunoichi before she could harm Gohan.

She might have been fifteen years old, but there was something to be said for her skills if she had been a bodyguard to the Hokage. She wasn't going to be bested by two regular ANBU. Not when these boys' lives were at stake.

Just as quickly as the power within the small boy had emerged it was gone again. The threat was gone and with it any chance for Yuugao to work out exactly what was going on.

Gohan turned to say thank you but was stopped as the mysterious Cat held up her hand to stop him from speaking. She stalked over to the shinobi that was still alive. His hand lying twitching on the ground.

He made to throw two shuriken with his off-hand but they were easily intercepted by Yuugao's blade before she lifted it and drove into his torso, pinning him to the ground, protective anger surfacing for just a second.

"Why?" she seethed. Bending down to take off the mask.

"I was not…" the shinobi spluttered his words barely a whisper in the ears of Yuugao, "We were not going to raise a child in a world that contained such a monster,"

"You're wrong," Yuugao said coolly, feeling nothing for what she had done to this man now, "You're the monster. A monster that tried to kill two innocent little children who don't know any better!" She twisted the blade, ending the encounter, the life quickly fading from his eyes.

Gohan and Naruto were both stunned after what had happened. It had only been moments but now both of their attackers were dead, and they were saved. Thanks again to this mysterious Cat. Only this time the stakes had been higher.

The masked woman unrolled a scroll she extracted from her vest before placing it on the body of the dead man. It disappeared in a puff of smoke and she moved to do the same with the woman before Gohan finally spoke up.

"Thankyou Cat-sama," he said, unsure of how to actually respond to the situation. He was shaken, but for some reason he hadn't felt as afraid as he thought he should have, "Why did they want to hurt us? What did the Hokage say? What is going on?" Why did anyone want to hurt them?

"I cannot answer that boys, only know that I'm here to protect you," she bent down over the body of the woman, it too disappearing in a puff of smoke after the scroll was placed on her chest, "You will have answers, just not from me."

She disappeared in a shun-shin. It was hard to just leave them when she wanted to comfort them, to try and explain the situation, but she needed to report this and she'd just seen Kakashi land in the tree above the park bench where the boys had been sitting. They had protection and the Hokage had to know.

xXx

"Hokage-sama,"

"Yes Cat?"

"There has been another attempt at the boy's life, in broad daylight this time with witnesses. The two of them have questions and no doubt rumours will spread within the public," the masked girl said, tossing the scroll containing the bodies of the dead onto the desk, "the attackers bodies are in that,"

"What?!" the Hokage said, slamming the desk. He'd thought that maybe things had started to cool down. There had only been the one attempt on Gohan's life since the incident, but this made two. Then again there were still attempts on Naruto's life on the odd occasion. When someone got it in their head that it was a good idea to try and rid the village of the Kyuubi.

What disturbed him though was the brazenness of the attack.

He composed himself before continuing, being shocked or outraged would do no good now.

"You say it was in broad daylight with witnesses?" He had no idea what would possess someone to make an attempt like that.

"Yes, it was a duo. Two ANBU, and it was an angry attack, or an attack out of fear of Gohan. I'd probably say the latter, considering what I was told. The male attacker said that they would not raise a child in a world that had such a monster in it,"

The Hokage sighed. This did not bode well for the two little orphans.

"And what of Gohan and Naruto? Did they hear any of this?" the Hokage didn't need either of them finding out about the power they contained at such an early age.

"Nothing to do with a monster, but obviously they have questions about why they came under attack during the middle of the day," Yuugao had wanted to tell them. But it was not her place to say, it was up to the Hokage.

Hiruzen went to speak but his agent cut him off, "Hokage-sama, there's something else. I felt it again,"

"The power you felt during the bully attack?" The god of shinobi really needed to find out if this energy within the boy was a threat. Could he control it? That was his primary concern. For all he knew this boy had two hearts and could bench-press a grown man.

They hadn't run any tests yet so for all they knew the only difference they knew of at the moment was his tail. But this power kept cropping up and he had no idea as to what the source of it was.

"Hai. This time it was gone just as quickly. There was no time for me to try and analyze it. We were still under attack,"

"That's okay, protecting them was the priority, but we'll need to investigate this further," the Hokage sighed, he really didn't need to deal with any of this, but he was the only one that could, "Anything else to report Cat?"

"Yes, I believe Gohan is ready to tell his story. I'm not sure what he told Naruto, but I think he told him more than we know. I'm not sure how he'll feel about talking after today though."

"Well there always is a silver lining, if he trusts Naruto enough to tell him his origins then they must be getting along extremely well, yes?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama, Gohan may be the best thing to have happened to Naruto. They act almost like brothers, even after this short period of time," Yuugao couldn't help but start feeling for the fate of her two charges. Naruto was almost a different person with Gohan around.

"That is good to hear," Hiruzen said with a slight smile. It really was good to hear that the two boys were getting along, now if only he could prevent the attempts on their lives, he sighed again, "I'll let the boy settle in some more before I get the story from him. Dismissed"

"Hai," Yuugao didn't necessarily believe in that course of action, but the Hokage was the Hokage so she disappeared without another word.

xXx

Hinata was confused as she stood in the park. She'd seen the start of the attack on the two boys. The two that she was rather fond of after their first encounter.

They didn't seem to hate her. Not like everyone else did. So why were they attacked?

Why did people hate them? They seemed nice enough.

There was too much hate in the village. That was the only conclusion that made sense to the little girl. She only knew of one nice person in the entire village.

There might have been two more, but she hadn't been allowed to talk to them. Her father had ordered it. Maybe he didn't want her to meet people that might be nice to her?

Her bodyguard, the one that only pretended to like her because of who she would grow up to be and who didn't let her talk to the boys, had covered her eyes before the violence had started and walked her away.

Just before they'd walked too far she managed to turn to look at the scene that had unfolded and she was glad.

The funny boys were okay. That was all that mattered. The nice people had beaten the mean people. Now if only she could do that.

xXx

(Later Haruno Residence)

While they had been out that day Sakura had seen a black haired boy that she actually thought was kind of cute once again hanging around the blonde haired rascal that her mother was always telling her to stay away from.

She had seen them in the park talking with the strange blonde boy standing up, declaring that he was going to become a great ninja but she didn't see much of what happened after that. There had been a disturbance and her mother had covered her eyes. When she had been allowed to see, there had been nothing to see except the two boys standing in the park and her mother had said it was time to go home.

"Mother," Sakura asked over dinner, "why does that little boy walk around with the blonde you don't like? And what happened today in the park?"

It took only a fraction of a second for her to work out whom her daughter was talking about, "I don't know darling. But you should stay away from both of them,"

Even she had to wonder though. Why did the boy hang around with Naruto? And why had the hero of the moment in Cat, the mysterious ANBU, been seen following them on occasion. Hell, why had she defended them today in the park?

She was a civilian, but she knew an attempt at someone's life when she saw one. Question was though, had they been attacking that boy or Naruto?

Surely she wasn't just following and protecting Naruto? They'd never seen her following the blonde before.

An attack occurs, a small boy appears who has no problem hanging around with a Jinchuuriki and Cat, the hero of the attack is seen protecting him. Maybe he was another Jinchuuriki? She'd have to discuss this with her friends. They needed answers if such a threat existed!

She'd not have her daughter walking around in a village with two ticking time bombs if he really was a vessel for a foul demon.

Sakura looked to ask why but she cut her daughter off, "No buts. They are bad news and you should stay away okay?"

The little pink haired girl just nodded. She didn't argue with her mother. She was always right.

xXx

(That Night – The Orphanage)

After the attack the two orphans had made their way back to the orphanage. Despite how they had both reacted under pressure the two were still shaken and needed somewhere familiar. Somewhere they felt safer, neither of them had noticed the silver haired shinobi that had followed them.

"Hey Naruto," Gohan said in a whisper as the two lay in their respective beds.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for standing up for me today," Gohan had really appreciated what Naruto had done during the fight.

"Any time bud," Naruto replied softly, a grin on his face that Gohan couldn't see in the darkness.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you think we were attacked?"

"I don't know," The blonde scratched his head in the darkness as he lay on his back, "Maybe I can ask Ji-ji when I see him next, he might be able to tell us,"

"Do you think we'll be safe though?" Gohan had thought that evil people like Raditz weren't in this village. He'd thought wrong. Now he was worried for his friend as much as himself.

"You saw that Cat lady. She was awesome, she'll protect us,"

"Damn straight I will," Yuugao said under her breath as she sat in the rafters with Kakashi, the man turning to her.

"You really don't need to be here," he said, she needed to get her rest.

"I know, but I couldn't sleep. I needed to check on them," Yuugao said, "Do you think they'll be okay?"

Kakashi deadpanned, turning to look at her, "Kid, I've been doing this a lot longer than you. They'll be fine, now get some sleep."

"O-okay," she said, still unsure that she wanted to leave but he was right, she needed sleep. She slipped out of the orphanage without a further sound as Kakashi kept watch over the two children that were just now drifting to sleep.

Kakashi couldn't help but notice how restless Gohan was in his sleep. He'd noticed it a lot of other nights as well. That kid must have some serious trauma. Most nights Kakashi had been on protection the kid never got a good sleep.

Again Gohan dreamt of Raditz destroying his family and friends, one by one, only this time it was different. This time there were two strangers, two blurs with strange masks, stabbing his best friend through the heart.

It wasn't the first night that the boy had woken from his sleep with a start, and it wouldn't be the last.

xXx

(One Week Later)

Hinata was starting to get worried. She wasn't sure what was wrong, but her mother was still looking as pale as she had been the day she'd given birth to her little sister. She'd not been out of her bed that often, one of the times that she'd left they'd had a photograph of the family taken.

That day Hinata had thought she was starting to feel better but it hadn't been the case. Her mother had spent the next five days mostly bed-ridden. They weren't sure what was wrong, and the medic-nin that had been called in to help her weren't able to diagnose the problem.

They just had to wait to see if she would get better, so that was what Hinata was doing. She'd just finished a training session with her father, who once again seemed disappointed with her progress.

After showering and getting dressed she'd come to sit next to her mother, as she lay bedridden, weak and pale.

Hinata brought her something to eat, and she was having trouble even feeding herself, the young Hyuuga having to spoon feed her own mother.

Lifting an arm weakly she signaled her daughter to stop.

"Hinata," she said in barely a whisper.

"Yes mother? What is it? W-what can I do?" Hinata said, eager to help her mother in any way possible.

"Not much," the kindest woman she knew said with a weak smile, "just remember that I love you, and I will always love you. Never let anybody tell you that you are useless, because you are amazing, and you will do great things one day, okay?"

"O-okay," Hinata whispered, the fear starting to show in her eyes, "but, but why are you telling me this mother? You are going to be fine! You're going to be fine right?"

Her mother just weakly smiled before the life faded from her eyes and she whispered a final "I love you," her hand falling limp in the grasp of her eldest daughter.

xXx

(Underneath Konoha)

The hooded and masked shinobi stood before Danzou, his hands outstretched before him, a small microchip resting on his fingertips.

"Danzou-sama, I've infiltrated the research division. With all the work they are doing on the craft it was easy, with the right connections, to get a small position within their ranks, a position where I can make things go missing quite easily."

"Good," The elder of Konoha said, picking up the small microchip, inspecting it, "get our men onto deciphering its secrets straight away. We might still pull through this mess if it goes to hell."

"Hai Danzou-sama," the masked Root agent said before disappearing without a sound.

"I'll not let some bout of sentimentality undermine this village Hiruzen," Danzou said as he made his way back to the surface, "if you won't be strong, I'll be strong enough for the both of us."

xXx

(The Next Day - Midday)

"Did you hear? There was an attack on Konoha! Some people passing through have seen the damage done to the woodlands. Apparently it's incredible. They don't know what could have caused that much damage. It goes for ages. Some people even said there are massive craters miles apart! What do you think did it?"

Jiraiya's ears pricked up as he heard what the two civilians at the table next to him were saying. As much as writing was important to him this sounded serious. Why hadn't the Hokage called for him?

Right, because he moved around so much. Guess the old man figured he'd find out sooner or later.

While he had been following leads on Orochimaru, he'd just hit a dead end. Guess now was as good a time as any to head back and see what all the fuss was about. From the sounds of the damage this was serious. He hoped no one was injured. He'd be distraught if one of the fine kunoichi of his village had been hurt.

Giggling at the thought of peeking on the women of Konoha again he packed up his equipment and headed out, looking to get some distance covered before nightfall.

xXx

(Iwagakure, Tsuchikage's Office)

"Did you hear that Tsuchikage-sama? Konoha came under attack, what do you think the damage is?"

The hunched old man wondered what exactly had attacked the village he so despised; home to Namikaze Minato, before his demise at the hands of the Kyuubi no Yoko. Not many forces were game enough to go head on with the village hidden in the leaves.

"I don't know, but we need recon if we are going to act on it," if Konoha was weakened he wasn't going to pass up this chance to finally knock them from their pedestal.

But first he needed intel. This wasn't going to happen overnight.

xXx

All over the elemental nations the news of an attack on Konoha was spreading. The damage having been done to the village going from a truthful nothing, to being exaggerated beyond belief as the Elemental Nations played Chinese whispers.

Small nations began militarizing while the larger nations began gathering intel, trying to find out if the one great village might be toppled in the near future.

One particular party that was very interested in the fate of the village hidden within the leaves was a very powerful man. A man with many fingers in many pies.

That was if you could call him a man; he looked more like a snake.

* * *

**So hope you didn't think the chap was too long, seeing as how it was pretty much the length of the story so far hahah, anyway until next time :) Ciao!  
**


	4. Ripples in the Water

**Hey guys, long time no update. Sorry life was a bitch. Just a heads up, I've started a tumblr to do with my fiction. It will basically be me putting up posts to do with my writing or my fics, whether it's asking a question about the fic or answering questions or letting you all know why I haven't updated and when the next update is expected.**

**Not sure if that link is correct, but it's orzzafiction . tumblr . com**

**That's it there, in case you want to you post and chat and hear from me rather than just when I update.**

**Anyway let's get on with the show, here you go people. I have far from given up on this fic, so never fear!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dragon Ball Z.

* * *

**Shinobi Son Gohan!**

**Chapter 4: Ripples in the Water**

* * *

(A month after the arrival of Gohan – One week after the park incident)

Once again the civilian component of the council had been dismissed and the discussion had moved solely onto military matters. Needless to say they'd been dismissed more and more frequently of late and it was starting to irk them. What was really going on?

Inside the meeting room Danzou was about to speak up; he had a specific issue that he wanted to bring attention to but was cut-off by one of the clan heads that sat in the large meeting room.

"Do we have anymore information about the boy, it's been a month since the incident and frankly, being in charge of keeping the peace within the village I need more information." Fugaku spoke up; he wasn't someone that was happy being kept in the dark.

"Actually the situation is quite under control," Hiruzen replied calmly before any of the other people in attendance could speak, "When I have more information I deem worthy to share I'll share it but for now you know everything you need to."

"Fugaku does have a point Hokage-sama," this time it was Danzou who spoke. Hiruzen knew that he would, he always had to have some input, "We don't even know the _origins_ of this boy, for all we know he could be the vanguard of a larger force," the crafty black haired man said, making sure to emphasize his use of the word origins, something that wasn't lost on a large number of shinobi at the table.

"I will question the boy when I deem it the right time. Right now I'll have you recall he is recovering from a brazen attempt at his life. That's not something any five year old should have to deal with," Hiruzen finished sternly.

"How do we even know he's five?" Fugaku asked rather heatedly, "We don't, because we don't have any intelligence. We know nothing,"

"No, you know nothing. And have you forgotten just who you are speaking to Uchiha Fugaku?" Hiruzen raised his voice as he asked this and everyone in the room paid rapt attention to the exchange of words, "I have assumed his age for simplicities sake, and will gather information from him when I deem he's ready,"

Fugaku went to reply, but was cut off by the old Hokage.

"And you will not make any move toward the boy. I am handling this, and if I find that you have spoken to the boy or _borrowed_ him for a quiet _discussion_ for the _sake of the village_ there will be dire consequences."

No one seemed to want to broach the topic of the strange young boy who happened to be a monster in disguise after seeing the verbal thrashing Fugaku had received and the meeting continued as usual, only with little input from the head of the police now sitting red faced in his seat.

As the military meeting came to a close and the leading figures of the village all returned to their respected compounds and residences only two people remained in the room.

"You need to find some information to give them soon Hiruzen. You are sitting perched in a rather unstable nest and the chicks are getting hungry." Danzou said simply. Ever since the arrival of the boy conflict had been brewing as tensions built.

"I know Danzou, I know," Hiruzen sighed, "If only they knew the seriousness of it all, maybe they wouldn't be so hasty,"

"Maybe it is you who doesn't understand the enormity of the situation old man," Danzou said finally as he exited the room, leaving the Sandaime Hokage alone with his thoughts.

xXx

(The Next Morning – Uchiha Fugaku's Residence)

Itachi knew something was off, he just didn't know why. While he might have been a fantastic ninja he couldn't read his father's mind, so it could have been any number of reasons he was in a sour mood that morning.

Fugaku sat staring angrily at his food as if pondering a puzzle he just couldn't work out.

"Father, what's the matter?" Itachi asked politely. Maybe he could help with the problem.

"It's nothing Itachi, the Hokage has just been very secretive with some information that I believe is necessary knowledge. If the people aren't going to know, then at least the police force should," his fist clenched tightly, "He needs to tell us. He can't keep the council in the dark."

"Tell you what?" Itachi asked, acting curious about the politics within the village. He played naïve around his superiors, even his father; little did they know he probably knew more about the dynamics within Konoha than they probably did; courtesy of his missions for the Hokage.

"All I can say is that it involves details of the attack near the village around a month ago," Fugaku said.

"Why can't you tell me more?" Itachi inquired again.

"Because son, besides the fact that the culprit is apparently a small child that's all I know," he continued to just stare at the food in front of him as if it were going to give him the answers he needed.

_Wow Hokage-sama, you really are keeping them in the dark._ _That being said though, how much do you really know?_

"Are you sure that's not all he knows either father?" Itachi had to be careful he didn't defend the Hokage too much now; from the sounds of it Hiruzen was walking on thin ice as it was. He didn't need to antagonize his father into confronting the man.

"If it is the village needs a new Hokage. That old man can't get anything done."

Before the conversation could continue any longer Sasuke came running down the stairs, "Time to train nii-san!" the young black haired boy said as he sprinted through the room and into the back yard.

This elicited a small smile from the old head of police and Itachi chuckled as the serious exchange abruptly ended and he walked through the door, "Don't worry yourself too much father, I'm sure everything will be fine."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that Itachi, I've got a bad feeling about all this madness."

Itachi wished he could tell his father that he was tailing the boy; that he could put his mind to ease. But the people couldn't know. The only one allowed to be spotted tailing the two was Yuugao and that was just to ease the worries of the majority.

"Nii-san," Sasuke said, "did a boy really attack the village?"

"Haha I knew you'd be listening. You're too curious for your own good little brother. I guess I have to tell you now; yes it's true, I wouldn't doubt father's word. Now you can't tell anyone, no one at all."

The small Uchiha nodded in assent, if his big brother said so he wouldn't tell a soul.

"Now let's see if your shuriken skills are up to scratch. I won't have my little brother being outdone at the academy."

Sasuke's face lit up at the reminder. He was finally going to the academy. In a few weeks he'd officially be a ninja in training!

xXx

It had been just over a week since the attack, and not once since then had the young boys left the protection of the orphanage. For anyone protecting the two youngsters it was easy work, but incredibly boring. It was evident to the protection detail why they were reluctant to leave, even if Naruto and Gohan were trying to put on brave faces for each other.

Having someone make an attempt at your life was frightening enough without seeing the violence of it all so closely. Just because it had been necessary didn't make it any better.

As Yuugao sat in the rafters she was sorry that she'd had to show them that part of being a ninja so early in their lives, but she would have been more sorry if they'd lost their lives; there wasn't much she could have done.

She'd been wondering when they were ever going to get the courage to leave the confines of the orphanage and after a week she'd finally gotten an answer. It seemed today was the day. As they made their way outside they were followed by the silent ANBU kunoichi, who made certain they were in no immediate danger.

Naruto and Gohan both knew that they couldn't hide within the orphanage forever, so it was down to whoever found the courage first. In the end it was Naruto putting on his loud and boisterous act that got them both out of their home.

"Come on! Let's go on an adventure!" Naruto said. Frankly he was getting bored of sitting inside. He was scared, and upset, but that had never stopped him from pranking people in the past, and it wouldn't stop him now. In the end his boredom and restlessness won out over his fear.

"Bu-But," Gohan said as he looked around in fear trying to find the threat that wasn't there.

"You fraidy cat let's go!" Naruto said, running off in a direction familiar to the young half-saiyan, "Don't get left behind slow poke!"

Gohan didn't have much of a choice, he really didn't want to be alone, and so he was left sprinting after the blonde. As they ran they laughed, darting in and around the legs of villagers, who cursed them as they avoided falling over the children.

Darting through stands and jumping over fences they ran and ran, as if running would help them escape their problems. As they ran the smiles on their faces grew larger and larger until they found themselves somewhere Gohan remembered very well.

"Naruto, you won't ever leave me right? You promised remember?" Gohan said as he thought about all that had happened to him since he last stood at the top of the Hokage monument looking out over the village.

"Never. And I'll never let them hurt you. You're like my brother, and I never let bad things happen to the people precious to me." Gohan was really the only precious person the young boy had, he'd be damned if he lost him. Besides the young Saiyan the Hokage was the only other person.

"I'll never let anything happen to you kids," a soft voice said from above them.

Yuugao couldn't help herself. What she'd seen these kids go through was just too much for kids without any kind of adult role model. They were alone against the world and dealing with what they had to deal with without any support, it was just too much. She'd have to tell the Hokage what she'd done; she just hoped that he'd understand. Motherly instincts could really mess with being a ninja.

The two children both turned in surprise only to have to look up at the much taller ninja standing above them wearing a cat mask; a cat mask that was looking straight down at them.

They didn't have much of a problem when she put her arms around them and pulled them both into a half hug on either side of her.

Naruto then had to revise his list.

Gohan.

Hokage.

Cat Lady.

Before they could ask any questions she spoke up, "I might not be able to answer many questions or help you with your training, but just know that I'm here for you when you really need it; and that I'll be protecting you. Whenever I'm not protecting you someone will be, so everything will be okay, don't be too afraid of the world. Even if the world is afraid of you,"

She knelt down before them and looked them both up and down, which to them looked strange, as she was still wearing a mask.

"Be strong boys, it will all be okay in the end,"

They both nodded, not sure what to say.

"Look out at there," she said, pointing out over Konoha with a smile that neither of the boys could see, "You're the future of the village," the two youngsters turned around, "And I'm sure you'll both live to do great things,"

For a while the boys stared, thinking about the words of the woman behind them until they felt her presence disappear. Anyone watching would think they were alone, but now they knew better. Now they knew for certain that they had someone watching over them, whoever she was, she was looking out for them.

xXx

(One Week Later)

Itachi couldn't help but smile at the young children as they played in the park. He'd had a few short shifts to give Yuugao and Kakashi some rest during the past week and he was glad that the kids were coming out of their shells again.

He'd seen them retreat to the confines and apparent protection of the orphanage and he had wondered if they'd ever venture beyond the walls again after the attempt on their lives.

Now that they were out and about again, smiling and playing, even Itachi was a little happier. If only Sasuke could find a friend that was his equal, one that could push him to be better, but still make him happy. Itachi just didn't have the time to be that person for his brother.

Even though he knew the hidden dangers of the two boys in front of him part of him hoped that they'd be friends with Sasuke in the future.

He was starting to wonder if his brother knew how to have fun, or if all he knew how to do was train. Maybe they could teach him?

xXx

(Meanwhile – Hokage's Office)

"Hokage-sama," Yuugao said, "The boys finally seem to be recovering from their ordeal. At least enough that they have the courage to venture outside the orphanage. I suspect staying inside was driving Naruto stir-crazing," she finished with a small smile.

"That's good," Hiruzen said with a smile, the faster they got settled again the better, "Tenzou, anything to report from your observations?"

"No Hokage-sama," the rather emotionless shinobi said, his iconic wrap around Hitai-ate framing his face as he spoke, "nothing of import, other than that the boys seem to be recovering, as Yuugao has reported."

"Kakashi?"

"Nothing to report on that front. I've heard nothing from any of my contacts. However the village is treating them harshly. It would seem word of the incident in the park has spread and it's inadvertently turned more of the village against them. They haven't been subjected to physical violence, but while I've been observing them from the shadows they've been abused verbally and refused service, among other things. It would appear the village is afraid of what they don't understand and they don't understand either of those two children, especially after the attack."

Tenzou nodded in assent, verifying that he'd seen the same.

This was news to Yuugao, "What are you talking about?" she never really got the chance to debrief with Kakashi outside of meetings with the Hokage.

The Hokage had been worried about the fallout, before Kakashi could speak up he interjected, "Yes well this is what I've been afraid of. Pebbles have been thrown in the pond and the ripples are still stirring the water. I can only imagine this comes as a surprise to you Yuugao because you make yourself somewhat visible during observation, as per my orders. I imagine this deters most of the harsher treatment from the villagers. When you aren't around however I fear the truth of Kakashi's report. There is little we can do about it though, the gears of the gossip machine are turning and it'll be hard to control it without creating even more of stir; I'm running damage control as it is. It will just have to be something they will have to deal with for now, they have thick skin for children so that is all we can hope for, keep up the good work, you are dismissed."

Kakashi nodded and he and Tenzou disappeared, leaving only Yuugao alone with Sarutobi Hiruzen.

"Uhhh," Yuugao stood a little nervously, unsure how to proceed. She'd done something a week prior that she shouldn't have. But she wouldn't have done differently if she had another shot.

"You wanted to speak to me in private then Yuugao? What is it?"

"Hai, I have revealed myself to the children. It was on the first day they came out of the academy since the attack," she explained the entire situation to the Hokage, who just sat, listening to what the boys did and where they ended up at the end of the chase. She told him every detail and he looked at her with an expression even she couldn't decipher.

"So they know that they are protected Hokage-sama, but I couldn't let them keep going thinking they were alone,"

Hiruzen's expression softened a little at this and he sighed, "It's okay Yuugao," she breathed a sigh of relief, "maybe it's for the best. Ever since the attack they would have questions, and while prior to the attack I wouldn't have had you reveal the information you did it shouldn't bring about many more questions. It has however seemed to give them the confidence to start being children again, so there is always that. Now if you haven't anything else to say I've a rather large amount of paperwork to get through," the old village leader said jokingly.

"Actually I had a suggestion Hokage-sama,"

"Yes?"

"Well, Naruto and Gohan are always talking about ninja and always playing ninja. I thought they might be allowed to join the academy in the next group of enrollments."

"Hmmmm, yes that might be for the best. They've been thrust into this world whether they like it or not, it would be for the best if they were prepared in anyway possible," he sat and pondered for a second, a number of thoughts running through his mind, "Hmmm, how would you like to be the teacher of their class? It would make it easier to look after them."

Yuugao's eyes lit up, this way she'd have more direct contact with them. She'd be able to make a difference that wasn't just protecting them, "Hai Hokage-sama, I would like that very much," she said as formally as possible, trying to hide the excitement that was building within her.

"Don't go showing any favoritism now," he said with a chuckle, "now get out of here."

"Hai," she said, looking for a second like the excited teenage girl that she was before donning her mask and disappearing in a shun shin.

(One hour later)

Danzou walked into the spacious office of the Hokage as the old man stood watching the village, ignoring the rather large stacks of paper sitting on his desk. He'd get a shadow clone to do it later. For now he was enjoying the view.

Well he had been before his friend had arrived.

"What is it Danzou?"

"Not the most polite greeting Hiruzen but I see you're rather stressed, what with all that paperwork," the black haired man said with a small smirk.

"Do you have a reason to be here other than poor attempts at antagonizing me?"

"Why yes, I came to check on the progress of the boy. It's been a week since the meeting, why have you not gone and seen him yet?"

Frankly as soon as the boy could put together a coherent sentence Danzou would have been pumping him for information. This was important, but the sentimental old fool was too busy making sure he fit in and that he and Naruto got along.

"I'm still letting him settle in. The boy was rattled by the incident in the park. It would be best if he offers up all the information willingly."

"And how long do you think that will take?" Danzou said with a sharper tone to his voice. He was growing impatient, "Because this is bigger than us and you know it. We need that information, whether it turns out to be vital or not we need to know what the boy knows." Danzou would not have the village fall because of this man's notions of kindness.

Hiruzen turned, a stern look on his face as he sized up the man standing in his office. As much as he wanted Gohan to truly feel like Konoha was home before he asked him questions that would bring back what were most likely painful memories he couldn't wait any longer.

Danzou knew it and so did he.

"Fine, I'll talk to the boy this afternoon. We shall hold a small council meeting tonight in order to discuss what I learn."

"Good," Danzou turned without a further word and limped through the threshold to the hall.

The Hokage sighed as he sat down on his chair.

Well maybe this would be good. He hadn't seen Naruto in over a month after all. Especially with Gohan keeping him out of trouble, sort of.

xXx

(One of the many parks of Konoha)

Yuugao, after having replaced Itachi, watched as the two boys 'sparred', as they liked to call it.

Their sparring was more just them running around kicking and hitting each other when the time was right than it was sparring, but she couldn't tell them that. Not until she was their teacher at the academy. Either way it was fun for the kunoichi to watch. It was a change of pace from what most of the past two weeks had been.

Gohan had been rattled by the attempt on his life. As much as he tried to be tough for Naruto's sake, as well as his own, not only did the experience bring back painful memories for the boy but it also created new ones. He'd seen some serious violence that day, stuff you shouldn't see at the age of five.

xXx

(Flashback – Two Days after the incident)

Gohan just lay in his bed, watching the ceiling unsure of what to do. The man that had attacked them had come at them like a madman. Flashes of the attack passed across his mind whenever he closed his eyes; it was hard getting sleep when he kept having nightmares.

They'd been attacked and someone had saved them. Violently saved them. He could still see the blood spraying through the air from the strikes that had saved their lives.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah?" his blonde friend said from his position on his bed. He was sitting at least, but even he was unsure as to what to do. He just had to be brave for his friend. He'd had to cop hate and disdain from the villagers before.

This was just something he would have to deal with. As much as it scared him he had to be brave in front of Gohan.

"Do we have to go outside?"

"We can't live in here forever," the blonde said faux enthusiastically, before sitting on his friends bed, prompting Gohan to sit up, pulling his knees to his chest.

"I'm scared,"

"So am I," Naruto said as if it were stupid not to be, "But what else can we do?"

"Really? You're brave Naruto, I'm not. I couldn't do anything to save my dad and I couldn't do anything when those people attacked. My dad stood up to that spiky haired bully and you stood up to those people in the park. I'm not as brave as you or my dad. And I'm scared."

"Come on Gohan! Let's go play ninja," Naruto really just wanted to see his friend smile. That was all that mattered to him. He was still scared, but he had to be brave. He wasn't going to lose the happiness that had finally found him after years of isolation.

"Maybe another day," Gohan said, turning to the side, and pulling his blanket over his head.

"Gohan, you don't have to be afraid," Naruto said, even though he knew that he wasn't getting through to his friend today.

"Why not?" Gohan asked, not looking up from under the covers.

"Because I'll protect you, I'm never gonna let anyone hurt you,"

"You really mean that?" the young Saiyan said from beneath his covers.

"Of course I do," Naruto said with a smile Gohan couldn't see before he stood and went back to his bed.

Yuugao was touched. During her time watching the boys she'd grown attached to them. She couldn't say whether that was good or bad for her mission but it was unavoidable. Everything the two did for each other warmed her heart and seeing them like this hurt. Their lives had only just begun and yet they'd had to live through so much.

She made sure to catch the tear that fell from underneath her mask as she watched over the frightened children. The ANBU wanted so much to comfort them, to let them know that they were not alone but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

Every day the inner struggle between her emotions and her duty grew. Today though she remained silent, sitting still in the rafters as she watched over two children who meant more to her than she figured they ever would.

She was beginning to wonder whether she was the right shinobi for this job.

(End Flashback)

xXx

As she sat perched in her tree looking over her charges and their shenanigans she felt a presence appear beside her.

Looking to her right she found the Hokage himself crouched on the tree branch.

"Hokage-sama, what are you doing here?"

"I think it's about time I had that talk with Gohan. It might do some good if Naruto is present as well. I've got my detail sweeping the area for unwanted listeners so you can just sit and watch if you want."

All Yuugao had to do was nod before the old man dropped from the tree and walked casually into the open field.

The park wasn't very populated, just a small scattering of civilians and the two boys. He'd sent his men to clear the surrounding area of threats, but he wasn't going to force the civilians elsewhere.

That would cause more trouble than it was worth. They wouldn't be able to hear the conversation anyway, he'd make sure of that.

It wasn't long before Naruto realized who was walking toward them.

"HEY JIJI!" he said excitedly. It had been forever since he'd seen the old man, "I haven't seen you in ages!"

"I know Naruto," the Hokage said with a warm smile as Naruto ran up to him, quickly followed by Gohan.

"Hey, wait a minute," Gohan said as he got closer, "I know you!" He was glad his memory hadn't given out on him.

"You do?" Naruto asked, turning his head around to look at his friend with a confused look on his face.

"Yeah this was the guy that saw me fall out of my ship! Who are you anyway?"

"WOAH!" Naruto said as he turned back toward the Hokage, who was trying not to smile too hard at the children. He had a real soft spot for Naruto, "You were there when he got out of his watchamicallit?"

This had the Hokage chuckling, "Yes I was, I am Sarutobi Hiruzen, Hokage of Konoha, what's your name?" he asked out of politeness.

Gohan just looked at him in shock, this was the Hokage? The head of the village! Well this was intimidating. Wait, hadn't Naruto just called him Jiji?

His confusion and shock extremely obvious Hiruzen tried to calm him down, "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, haha,"

"I-I'm Son Gohan," the half-Saiyan said as he got his bearings back, "So you were the one who gave me clothes and put me in the orphanage?"

"Yes I was, and I'll answer any questions you have, but can you answer my questions first?"

"I-I guess?" Gohan was nervous, this powerful man had just put him on the spot.

"It's okay Gohan," Naruto said to his friend, "Jiji is really cool, you can tell him stuff,"

"Here, sit down," Hiruzen said to the two young boys as he sat cross-legged on the ground, waiting for them to sit.

"Okay, Gohan," he continued when they finally sat, "can you tell me how you came to be on this planet?"

"Ummm I don't really know," the young boy replied, "I was kidnapped by an alien who came to convince my father to join forces with him. He claimed he was my dad's brother but he was super mean, so I don't know how that happened.

When my dad was fighting him to get me back the big scary man trapped me in his space ship and I must have hit some buttons, because after a little while the ship took off and came here. I don't know what happened to my dad or anyone on my planet. But when I was leaving my dad was in trouble. He was getting beaten badly!" it was clear that recounting it was upsetting the poor boy but Hiruzen had to ask more questions, even if it meant Gohan was going to cry.

"Was your dad powerful?"

Gohan nodded, "He was the strongest person on my planet! And this guy was beating him easily," the young boy said, starting to tear up.

"Do you know anything else you can tell us about the man?" the Hokage didn't want to upset him, but he needed to know if this attacker would be a threat to them.

"I th-think he said something about his job. He s-said something like his job was to kill the inhabitants of planets so he could sell them to the highest bidder, are they going to sell earth too?" the boy was starting to cry freely now and the Hokage had to stop. But if what he said was true then the entire planet could be in some serious trouble.

"Thank-you Gohan, is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

Gohan looked up at the old man for a moment as he thought, his crying slowly coming to a stop for the moment. There was really only one thing that he cared about.

"Where is my dragon ball?" he asked hopefully. He'd feel a lot better if he had his great grandfather's dragon ball.

"And what would a dragon ball look like?" Hiruzen asked, although he had a feeling he already knew.

"It's a small golden ball with four red stars on it," the little Saiyan said, not even having to think about what it looked like. If he ever had a security blanket, that four-star dragon ball was definitely it.

"Ahhh yes, well we have people looking at it, but I'm not sure…" the Hokage stopped when the small boy looked up at him with the widest tear filled eyes he'd ever seen. He really was going soft, "I mean, I think we might be able to give it back, but on the condition that we be allowed to borrow it to study when we need to. Is that okay?"

Gohan thought for a moment. It was his, but then again this old man had given him new clothes and let him live in this village. If not for him he never would have met Naruto.

"Hmmm, okay," Gohan agreed. At least he got to hold on to it now.

The Hokage was curious. If Gohan wanted it back did that mean that he could use its power somehow?

"Do you know what the dragon ball does Gohan? Why is it important to you?"

"Ummm I don't know what it does except look pretty," the boy said with a smile. Yuugao heart couldn't help but swell from the sheer adorableness of the statement; what was happening to her?

"And I want it back because it was given to me by dad. And it was given to him by his grandfather."

"Okay. Well I guess we can return it to you then," Hiruzen smiled. He saw no harm in returning it to the boy. If his brightest minds couldn't work out how to access its power, what were the chances a little boy could?

"Ummm Mr Hokage," Gohan asked, again Yuugao almost fainted, "Why do people not like Naruto?"

Naruto had been listening to the conversation intently before but now he was really focusing on what was being said between his old friend Jiji and his new friend Gohan.

"Ahhh,"

Before he could come with an answer Gohan spoke up again, "And do they not like me because I hang around with Naruto?"

This time Naruto was worried. If Gohan was being treated poorly because he was friends with Naruto, did that mean Gohan would stop being his friend?

The little Saiyan, just curious, hadn't realized that his question was worrying his best friend so much.

"Ummm that is a question I'll give you an answer to when you are both a little older. That is something you don't need to know now. Just know that I am here for you both if you ever need me and that you should never give up on your friendship."

"Oh I wasn't going to," Gohan replied with a smile, "Naruto is the coolest guy ever, I'd never stop being his friend!"

Naruto was visibly relieved and once again the interaction between the two young children had Yuugao swooning at how cute they were.

"Hahaha, that's good Gohan, and thank you for answering my questions, I'll be around tomorrow with your dragon ball okay? I know I don't need to tell you to take good care of it," the small boy nodded.

It didn't look like Gohan was going to ask the question Naruto wanted an answer to and if Gohan wasn't going to ask it he would, "Ji-Ji," he said, stopping the old man from getting up, "why were we attacked?" Naruto assumed that by now the Hokage knew about it. It was his village; he would know what happens in it.

The image of sadness passed across the old man's face for the slightest of moments before he spoke, "That too is a question to be answered another day, I'm sorry Naruto, but you now know that you aren't alone. People are here to stop bad things from happening to you," the young blonde nodded as he remembered the cat lady from a week ago.

The Hokage stood and Naruto jumped up to give the man a hug.

"Bye Jiji, thanks for coming to visit, see you tomorrow!"

"Hahahaha seeya you little rascal," Hiruzen chuckled, his mood having picked up a little at Naruto's enthusiasm; he really was different now that Gohan was friends with him.

The two kids in front of him were a shining example of why he was Hokage. He had the largest smile he'd had in a long while as he left the park and returned to his office, the smile only fading when he remembered the talk he'd be having that night with the small council. They weren't going to be happy with coughing up the dragon ball, but at least now they knew what it was called.

xXx

(Later that night)

"So what have you learned?" Danzou asked once everyone was seated at the table.

Kakashi had once again been the last to enter the room. Not as late as he normally would be, but still making sure he entered with a good excuse.

Ibiki, Inoichi, Shikaku, Danzou, Koharu, Homura and the protection team sat at the round table, spread out before the Hokage.

"The boy recounted the events that lead to him ending up on our world. He informed me that an alien had come to his planet in the space ship we found him near and had kidnapped him in order to force his father to join forces with him. Apparently they were brothers.

This resulted in his father and his uncle fighting in front of him as he was trapped in the ship. Naturally he was upset and pressed buttons apparently. This caused the ship to take off and set a course for our world it would seem. What concerns me though is this man, his uncle. The boy remembers him saying that his occupation was to kill the inhabitants of worlds so that his master could sell the worlds to the highest bidders. Meaning that there are many more threats out there than just the other villages. If we were ever attacked it might come to all nations banding together to fight off this threat."

"What makes you think they'll stand a chance against our forces?" Danzou asked. Frankly he was quite confident in the fighting capabilities of ninja.

"This man was walking all over Gohan's father the way he tells it. He also mentioned that his father was the greatest fighter on his world."

"What makes you think that means anything? What if this person wasn't that strong to begin with?"

"Cat, tell them what you felt."

Everyone turned toward the ANBU wearing the Cat mask, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"Hai. This Gohan, he is just a small boy, but he hides a great power and he is only five years old."

"Yes we know he can transform into an ape, but the tail is the source of his power, that is an exploitable weakness." Danzou said matter of factly.

"I wasn't talking about his transformation. When he and Naruto were attack by bullies he retaliated for just a second. And in that moment of anger I felt an extreme power from the child. It felt similar to chakra, but also not like chakra, and the amount the child had was incredible. I don't even think he knows he has this power. But if this is common among his race, and it can be harnessed then I fear what destruction an army of adults could wreak upon our world."

This was news. Danzou had heard nothing of this. This child had more hidden power? What was this kid made of?

"Indeed, if this child has incredible power," Shikaku started, "It would be unwise to assume that the rest of his race doesn't have such power. Making that assumption would put us at a tactical disadvantage should an invasion ever occur."

"What brings about this power?" Danzou asked, maybe they could exploit it?

"I'm not sure," Yuugao replied coolly, "Maybe it is brought about during times of emotional duress or anger?"

"We need to investigate this," Homura stated, getting nods from Ibiki and Inoichi.

"What do you suggest I do? Make the boy a lab rat? You know that will not happen," Hiruzen said sternly, leaving no room for argument.

"No," Shikaku said, even though Danzou's countenance said otherwise, "Just have a medic-nin and Hyuuga have a look at the boy tomorrow. If we can find out what makes him tick we might find a weakness to exploit against an invasion force. We might also find out where this power comes from."

"Okay, I think he will be fine with that," Sarutobi said, "Inoichi, has there been any progress on the orb? By the way, the boy calls it a dragon ball."

"No Hokage. It seems to be that there is no way to access the power. We've tried everything we can."

"Good, I think it is about time to return it to the boy,"

"WHAT!?" this time it was Danzou's turn to be properly outraged, "An OBJECT with immense power contained within it and you are going to turn it over to the boy?"

"Yes Danzou. We cannot access this power. We have no idea how to access this power. We are making no progress on it so I might as well use it in order to gain more of the boy's trust. It belongs to him and it is the only thing he has that reminds him of home. He has agreed to let us have it should we have more tests to run. Apart from Danzou is there anyone that disagrees with this course of action?"

Only the other two elders raised their hands. Inoichi had no problems. All the thing was doing was sitting in his lab taking up space and annoying him. It was a puzzle that couldn't be puzzled and it was driving the academic inside of him crazy. Ibiki was working with the team on the space ship. So either way he didn't care.

Shikaku didn't see how tactically it was a bad decision. If this child was special then they could use this to further his allegiance to the village, giving them an advantage in the future should conflict arise.

"So it's settled then. The boy gets the dragon ball back." The Hokage said. It didn't really matter what they said. His word was the law. He just wanted to get the opinion of everyone else in the room in case one of them had a valid reason to not give the boy his gem back and apparently no one had a good reason not to return the artifact.

He looked over to Danzou to see that the man was furious, but knowing he could do nothing about it he kept his mouth shut. Hiruzen couldn't say he'd lose sleep over pissing Danzou off. He did it all the time. Maybe if the man were still running ROOT there'd be a problem.

But as far as Hiruzen knew he had as much pulling power as a civilian. Sarutobi just liked to keep him in the loop because of their history and his history in covert ops. He did offer good advice, occasionally.

"l'll return it to him tomorrow when I request the physical, maybe we can get some answers as to what this boy is really made of. Does anyone have anything else to report? No? Good, you're dismissed."

"Shikaku," the Hokage called out, stopping the man from leaving. The black haired tactician turned back to the leader of the great village of Konoha, "Seeing as how it was your idea organize the medic and the Hyuuga, request their presence in my office tomorrow at noon. I'll have the boy there, hopefully."

"Hai Hokage-sama,"

As the god of shinobi sat alone (with the exception of his detail) in the meeting room he wondered what he'd say to the boy.

Maybe he could just ask him politely?

xXx

(Hokage's Office – Noon)

Gohan stood nervously in the center of the office as Naruto sat off to the side.

When the Hokage had gone to them to return the dragonball he'd asked Gohan if he would be able to have some people look at him, so they could try and better understand his physiology. Naruto, naturally, had asked to come along and the Hokage had had no problem.

That was how the little Jinchuuriki found himself sitting to side, watching as his best friend stood nervously, looking around, holding his recently returned dragon ball to his chest.

Two people walked through the double doors to the room followed by a man with black hair that looked like a pineapple to the young Jinchuuriki.

"Hiashi, Mitate, thank you for coming," the Hokage said to the two people that preceded Shikaku.

"What is it that you require Hokage-sama?" Hiashi said in a slightly annoyed tone; he'd been called to the office and given no reason.

"Yes Hokage-sama, what have we been called here for?" Mitate asked.

Mitate was a medical-nin wearing the standard white high collared full body uniform of the Konoha Medical Corps. He was more amicable as he'd been called off a dull shift at the hospital so it wasn't like he was complaining.

"I would just like you to run an analysis on this boy," the Hokage said, "Hiashi you will obviously take a look at his chakra network and stores and Mitate I'd like you to run a diagnostic on his body."

"Is there any particular reason we are running these tests on an orphan boy Hokage-sama?" Hiashi had better things to be doing than running tests on the small boy who was friends with Naruto.

"Yes Hiashi. He is _that_ boy, and I would just like you to run the tests and give me the results. You are free to leave then," Hiashi immediately understood, and now he was wary of just what he was going to find when he examined the child. Quickly activating his Byakugan what he found surprised him.

"Okay," Mitate spoke first leaving Hiashi waiting to share his results, "I'll go first, the physical shouldn't take long."

The Hokage didn't miss the surprised look that Hiashi was trying to hide, and the disdainful looks that he clearly wasn't.

Mitate quickly ran a chakra-coated hand around Gohan, who was at first alarmed by the blue glow. As soon as the strange medic had started though he realized it was harmless and relaxed, allowing the man to do his job.

After quickly running his diagnostic technique over most of Gohan he then proceeded to check his temperature and pupil dilation before turning to the Hokage.

"Aside from a rather dense skeleton and a slightly more defined tailbone than any other villager there is nothing strange about this boy. He's just a regular five year old. A durable five year old but still a regular child."

"Thank you Mitate, you can go now, that is all I needed to hear,"

"Hai Hokage-sama," Mitate said as he left Hiashi alone with the two boys and the Hokage. Gohan went and sat himself down next to Naruto, waiting for further instructions.

"Now from your surprise earlier I expect there is nothing ordinary about this boy at all? Is there Hiashi?" the Hokage said, slightly worried at what the man had found. He was glad Gohan had passed the physical, but Hiashi looked to have uncovered something troubling.

"I would prefer to discuss this alone," the elder Hyuuga said as he looked sternly toward the two children, clearly not a fan of either of them.

"Fine, fine, Gohan, Naruto wait outside, I'll call you both back in, there is more to discuss when we are finished," Hiruzen said with a faux smile.

The two young boys didn't protest as they got up and ran out the door to the office.

"Now Hiashi, what is it?"

"Three,"

"Excuse me?"

"That, that _thing_ has three chakra networks," Hiashi said harshly.

"That _thing_ is a young boy Hiashi, just like any of u-,"

"No, he's nothing like any of us. He appears to have three chakra networks. One that is most like ours, yet even it is large, as if it is accustomed to channeling a lot of chakra; chakra that I couldn't seem to sense, as if it was just waiting to be released. The next is even larger and I would say is the boy's primary network, this network looks as if it is capable of channeling Kage sized reserves at it's current state. Kage sized reserves in a 5 year old!" Hiashi was almost shouting by now, and he had to recompose himself, "Again the network is relatively inactive, as if the power has to be consciously drawn upon. The final, well what I can only assume is a network I can only feel around his tailbone. There are remnants of chakra still there but I imagine with more time this chakra would fade completely. While the other networks had some amounts of chakra flowing through them this had no chakra flow, only left over chakra and low and behold the hub of the network is centered around his tail bone. I can only assume that was how he transformed."

"And you said it was dormant or inactive?" the Hokage enquired before Hiashi could continued, which irked the clan leader to say the least.

"Yes it seemed inactive, but that doesn't mean it won't activate again. What is also troubling is that the chakra that I could sense within the first two networks felt similar to chakra but only slightly. It felt less refined yet still powerful, not as if it were completely untrained but of a different form than chakra, denser even, if that were even possible.

The first of the networks I felt was the smaller active one, simply because it was easier to sense. The energy that runs through it is most like Chakra, but even it still feels strange, and even that network is around Chunin size. The other network is the one that troubles me the most, the denser network. I can feel that it is almost overlaid with the first, as if the two are ebbing and flowing, sharing two different kinds of power. I have no idea how this is achieved without seals but it is troubling. I cannot discern if it has a connection with the third network. One can only assume.

So no Hokage this boy is nothing like any of us and I'll not stand for having this boy freely wandering the village," Hiashi said with as much composure as he could summon. To be frank this child unnerved him and he didn't want him wandering freely, "We don't know what he can do with those networks; what power he is capable of or whom he is working for. For all we know he's one of Orochimaru's twisted experiments."

That was the last straw for the Hokage, Orochimaru was always a touchy subject, with a pained expression he rubbed the bridge of his nose, this was getting more and more troublesome with every moment, "That is enough! He is not a twisted experiment of Orochimaru's," he composed himself slightly, "I thank you for your chakra network analysis, but he is just a lost little boy who happens to be hiding a power none of us understand! Even he doesn't seem to know what he is. Your analysis might help us in the long run, so I thank you, but your words need not ever be repeated outside these walls!"

Hiashi, the proud man that he was, only barely bit back the words that were going to spill from his mouth; he was still in the presence of the Hokage after all.

Straightening himself he replied, "If that is all I have affairs to attend to,"

"Yes you can go," the Hokage said as if nothing had just happened.

"Hai Hokage-sama," Hiashi said before turning and leaving.

As Hiashi opened the door and departed the two young boys poked their heads around the corner of the frame, causing the Hokage to laugh, despite the situation.

"Haha, yes come in boys,"

They hurried up to the desk and each sat in a chair, both waiting intently to hear what the Hokage had to say.

"Gohan, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with you, you are just slightly different than we are, which is no surprise considering where you are from," Hiruzen smiled at the relief on the face of the young boy, "Now I wanted to talk to you two about what's going to happen to you both. I've decided to permit both of you entrance to the academy if you so wish. If that happens you'll both live together in an apartment with someone to look after you of course,"

The faces of the boys both lit up at the prospect of what it would mean. Gohan was the first to express doubt. He'd said to Naruto that they could be ninja, but now the choice was right in front of him.

"Bu-but, I don't want to be a ninja, I want to go home, and my mother wouldn't be very happy if I trained to fight and didn't study books and smart things,"

Then doubt crossed Naruto's face. For the first time he felt torn. He didn't know whether to choose between being a ninja and being Gohan's friend. If he was a ninja he could get recognition in the village and become Hokage. But he already had all the recognition he needed from Gohan, so could he live without being Hokage? He didn't have long to think about it though.

The Hokage just laughed it off, "Gohan, being a ninja is more than just about fighting. You learn all sorts of things, from studying numbers, to languages, and even the world. And I'm sorry but we have no way of getting you home ye-,"

"You should become a ninja with me Gohan!" Naruto exclaimed, eager to get his friend to join him in his dream, "Then we can be strong and protect each other. Like you said, there's no point getting back home if you can't defeat the bad guys!"

That sealed the deal for the young half-saiyan. He'd join the academy; Son Gohan was to be a ninja.

"That settles it then, class starts in a week, until then you can live at the orphanage. At the end of the first day you'll be going home with your new guardian. How does that sound?"

"Can it be the cat-lady?" Naruto asked eagerly. He really wanted the cool woman who was looking after them to be their active guardian.

"Hahaha no, but I'll have you know she had some input into who it would be," Hiruzen said, knowing immediately who the boy was talking about, "she has other tasks. You'll meet them after your first day. Now scram boys, and enjoy learning at the academy!"

After they'd finished Hiruzen had to sit and think. If such a small boy held three chakra networks and a strange powerful source of power, what did that mean for the rest of his race, however many there were.

This was indeed troublesome. And they'd still yet to determine what exactly the power within the boy was. Maybe during his training they'd uncover the answer.

Either way Hiashi wasn't going to like that the boys were going to the academy, but Hiruzen didn't see a reason why not. If the boy was immensely powerful then wasn't it better he be properly trained in the use of that power?

Hiruzen sighed. This was all getting rather troublesome. Sometimes he wished that they'd never had the small bundle of joy visit them from the stars. And then he remembered the smiles he'd seen on Naruto since, of the happiness that he'd Yuugao tell of, and he knew that it'd all work out somehow.

xXx

(One Week Later – Ninja Academy)

Naruto and Gohan were nervous, they really didn't know anyone and so decided to stick to themselves as they walked toward their classroom. They noticed that not everyone was their age; some were older, some a little younger. Gohan figured there mustn't be an age requirement.

They entered an empty classroom and took seats down near the front; they didn't want to miss anything after all. They were going to be the best ninja ever! This attitude was why the room was also empty. The chunin receptionist gave them a strange look as she pointed them to their classroom a full thirty minutes early.

Gohan and Naruto sat chatting, wondering what they were going to be taught. As they threw ideas back and forth, most of them ridiculous, the door opened slowly and a small girl poked her head in as if checking to make sure it was the right room.

When she saw Naruto and Gohan her face lit up and she opened the door fully, revealing a small black haired girl with pale skin and white eyes.

She'd found them! Finally the two boys she'd seen in the park. Hoping that they could be friends she walked shyly up to them. They were the only people in the room so she could hardly ignore them.

"Uhh, hi," she said shyly as she stood in front of them.

"Hello" Gohan said, remembering the girl from the park, "I'm Gohan," he said, introducing himself politely.

"And I'm Naruto, dattebayo!" Naruto said, not bothering with being subdued.

"Heh," she said shyly, "I'm Hinata, do you mind if I sit next to you?"

"Not at all," Gohan replied with a smile, and soon there were three children sitting in an empty classroom coming up with fanciful ideas about what might be taught on the first day.

It wasn't long until the classroom began filling up and their teacher walked in. She was a slender woman whose age they couldn't really tell. She looked around 20, but she could have been younger. She had beautiful purple hair and wore red lipstick.

"Okay class, my name is Yuugao and I'll be your teacher for your stay at the academy, assuming you pass the exams and move onto the next class," as she introduced herself the two boys in the front froze, instantly recognizing the voice as that of the woman who had once saved their life and vowed to protect them. When she was finished she turned and winked at them before starting to write on the black board.

"Now I'll not have any slackers in my class, so keep up!" with that she turned and began writing notes on the blackboard as she lectured them on the essentials of being a ninja, starting with Konoha history.

xXx

"Goodbye Hinata-chan," Gohan said with a smile as Naruto waved along with him, and students moved past them toward their parents, class now having finished.

"It was nice to meet you Hinata-chan," the boisterous blonde yelled from beside the Saiyan.

"Bye Gohan-kun and Naruto-kun," Hinata said with a genuine smile as her bodyguard escorted her away. It wasn't long until she was lost in the crowd and they turned and sat on a bench just outside the exit.

"So what do we do now?" Naruto asked as they sat dejectedly. He wished their guardian was on time.

"We wait I guess. Hokage-sama said that they'd be here,"

Naruto sighed, "why can't they be on time then?"

Up in the shadows of a nearby tree Kurenai sat giggling as Yuugao appeared in a shun-shin next to her.

"You're really going to make them wait?" she said with a half smile, this was just like her good friend.

"Oh give it a rest haha, I saw what you were teaching in there, way to crush their dreams,"

"My teacher did it to me. Crush the hopes and dreams of prospective ninja with the dull and boring teachings of nothing remotely ninja related. They still need to know it though. May as well make it fun when I see the looks on their faces when they realize just what they're in for," it was her first day on the job; she had to have at least a little fun with her class. If she were teaching just Naruto and Gohan it might have been a different story.

"So how long?"

"Haven't decided yet," she said with a grin, "It won't be too long, I just want to see what they're like first. I'm supposed to be looking after them and I've barely had time to observe them. You gave me a week, that's hardly any time at all!"

"If Naruto pranks the crap out of you don't be surprised."

"Pfft, that kid couldn't prank me even if he wanted to. I'd just genjutsu them and be done with it, besides like I said I want to see how they react for a bit."

"Yeah, whatever, when it happens I'll be there to say I told you so," she said as she disappeared again; she had things to do.

xXx

"It seems Hinata made some friends Hiashi-san, they were bidding her farewell after school" Hinata's bodyguard Shinten reported to the clan head after he'd seen Hinata home safely.

"Yes?" this was interesting if she could make friends with a powerful clan heir it would make her life much easier in the future, "who were they?"

"Well one was the demon brat. The other was some boy their age with black hair. He looked to be friends with the blonde,"

Hiashi's knuckles were white by the time Shinten had finished speaking.

"Leave me, now," Hiashi said in barely a whisper, and Shinten was gone in a flash.

To think that Hiruzen wasn't going to restrain the young boy, but that he'd put him in the academy, along with the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi!

The first thing to be broken was the table.

And Hinata was friendly with them! What was wrong with that girl! She was a useless fighter and nothing he could teach had fixed that. Then she goes to the academy and can't even make the right friends.

A chair was thrown through a wall.

It took the frightened wails of servants for Hiashi to finally compose himself.

He strode straight into his daughter's room and said in a low stern voice, "If I ever find out that you see those two boys, Naruto and whatever that other brat is called, outside of class I will pull you from the academy. Is that clear?"

Hinata didn't know how to react. Her father had just barged into her room and demanded that she never see the two people she was actually starting friendships with outside of class. She began tearing up, began thinking of protest. But her father had used _that_ voice, looking at her as if she wasn't his daughter. She couldn't summon the courage to do anything but nod.

That night the young Hyuuga cursed her father, cursed him more than she ever had. It was as if her family wanted to take her happiness from her. Her sister took her mother from her, and now her father was taking the newfound happiness of her friends. Was it the Hyuuga family curse to never be happy?

xXx

(Somewhere near Kumogakure)

"What is it Orochimaru-sama?" the young, pale and bespectacled Kabuto said with a bowed head as he stood among the shadows of a meeting room within a hidden base not far from the outskirts of Kumogakure.

"Thingsss are beginning to get interesting within Konoha. I want my best eyes and ears on the job Kabuto-san. That means you finding out what you can, and destabilizing what you can get away with. I will bring that village down, and I will steal their power when I do," the sick and twisted Snake Sannin said from the shadows of the meeting room, "Get me the information I seek,"

"Hai Orochimaru-sama, they'll never suspect me,"

"No, and that's why you are perfect for the job, now go and serve me Kabuto, serve me well," the greedy Sannin couldn't help but lick his lips and grin at the prospect of getting back at the village hidden within the leaves. He would have his revenge, no matter how long it took.

xXx

(Meanwhile Somewhere within the Land of Fire)

"Help me! Help me please!" a pretty young blonde screamed as she stumbled out of the wooded area skirting the road, crash landing at the feet of the great and powerful Jiraiya.

"What is it?" Jiraiya was immediately in rescue mode. A pretty young blonde no more than eighteen years old crash landing at his feet and he had the chance to save her? It must have been his lucky day.

"They were right behind me! Please," she said desperately, as she clawed toward the ground in his direction, fear playing across her face. The clothes she was wearing were ragged and she had bags under her eyes. It looked like she'd been running for days, "Bandits! I swear they were right behind me!"

"Calm down, you aren't in any danger any more," Jiraiya said, still guarding for a threat that might emerge from the woods, he couldn't see or hear anyone chasing her, "Tell me what happened."

"The- they burned my village to the ground and tried to rape me, I've been running ever since I escaped," at that point a look of realization crossed her face and she went as white as a sheet, "My family, they're all gone, I have nowhere left to go," before any more emotion could pass across her face she collapsed, unconscious. Whether from shock or from exhaustion Jiraiya wasn't sure but he sure as hell wasn't leaving a pretty thing like this girl out here for the wolves.

Slinging her over his shoulder he continued on his way to Konoha, never knowing that he was carrying the Jinchuuriki of the two tails, Yugito Nii, toward her target destination.

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**Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to ask questions and make sure to review guys I really appreciate feedback and suggestions! :)**

**Until next time!**


	5. Shinobi 101

**Hey guys, this one is out quick because I was inspired! Hooray! Although this note is long because it's important.**

** Just want to take this note to say that this story wouldn't be what it is, or what it is going to become without my co-author RixxellStryfe. He was originally my beta on The Champion of Clan Namikaze but since then has contributed a lot to both stories. While I may have had the idea for the story and am writing it, it wouldn't be what it is now, or what it will become without his extremely detailed and fantastic input. I can safely say that we are very much a team and I'm very grateful for his support. Thankyou RixxellStryfe.**

** This results in a lot of correspondence and a small delay in getting chapters up, but we'd rather a quality chapter and a wait then a rushed chapter that has missing components. That and life gets in the way.**

** Also to address something that was brought up in the reviews about Gohan and his Oozaru transformation. Firstly thank you 'fan' for your defense on power levels, I'm glad you understand the sheer difference between DBZ and Naruto powers. Secondly Gohan first transforms into the great ape very early into his stay in the wild, before Piccolo gives him his new clothes even, as he gives them to him after the transformation when he is passed out. Therefore Gohan would have been around the same physical development then as in chapter one as he actually hadn't been training before his transformation as far as I can remember. Also remember that during this transformation in canon he shoots energy beams from his mouth and destroys plateaus with ease.**

** Anyway enough of that, I hope you enjoy this chapter, thank you for the continued support and reviews, and don't forget to review and tell me what you think!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Dragonball Z.

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**Shinobi Son Gohan!**

**Chapter 5: Shinobi 101**

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(Nightfall - Somewhere in the Land of Fire)

Yugito Nii woke up with the warmth of a fire embracing one side of her body. Sitting up she found herself in the same ragged clothes she'd passed out in, the only difference being that she was under a blanket as well.

The situation next to the campfire would have been relaxing had there not been Jiraiya of the Sannin staring at her from his position under a tree a few meters away with a look on his face that didn't bode well for her. The young Jinchuuriki had put on a great show if she didn't say so herself, even forcing herself unconscious to ice the cake so to speak, so why wasn't he buying it?

"So who are you really?" the white haired ninja asked from where he was sitting. His stance was relaxed as he sat with his back to the rough bark but his look told her that he wouldn't hesitate in putting her down if he didn't like what she said, pretty girl or not.

"I t-told you," she stammered fearfully, "my home was burned and pillaged!"

"Right, please excuse me if I don't believe you." Jiraiya replied casually, but with an undertone of impatience.

"If you didn't believe my story, why did you bring me with you?" She was clutching at straws now, she needed to think of something. Jinchuuriki of the Matatabi or not she still didn't want to fight Jiraiya.

"You weren't a threat when you were unconscious on the road, but something about the whole situation didn't sit right with me, a ninja's instincts if you will. A ninja, especially one who's live as long as I have, doesn't have trouble spotting another ninja. Now explain yourself, who are you?" the sage was a sucker for pretty girls, but even he wasn't going to fall prey to one so easily.

"I-I'm Yugito Nii," the young blonde replied as fearfully as she could manage. She didn't see the point in keeping her true name hidden, no one outside of Kumo knew who she was, she was going to have to save her lies for when it counted, because if Jiraiya saw through them she was finished, "it's true, I'm not a civilian and my village wasn't burned to the ground. I'm actually, well I was a kunoichi of Kumogakure but I ran away. That's who were chasing me, I must have lost them by the time I found you."

"And why did you run from your village?" Jiraiya asked, he was still in control of the situation but knowing that she was a shinobi of Kumogakure was enough to set him more on edge.

"Because they did things to me, terrible things. I was subject to experiments all because of my blood, they said," Yugito started to turn on the crocodile tears as she said this, pouring emotion into her words, "The men, they even did horrible things to me, violated me, I don't want to talk about it," the young blonde finished quickly, hiding her face in shame.

"And why didn't you tell me all of this before?"

"Be-because I was afraid you wouldn't take me in, you wouldn't let me seek refuge in your village,"

To be frank Jiraiya had never heard of untoward experimentation from within Kumogakure, but they were always good at keeping secrets. If what this girl was saying was true she also probably possessed a bloodline; he couldn't just let her walk away.

A small part of him didn't trust her story but he knew that he would have to take her to the village anyway, where Hiruzen would decide her fate; there was just something about her that unsettled him but if what she said was true there wasn't any way he could turn her down, not after everything she'd been through.

"Alright, I'm heading toward the village now, you can tag along. Any sign of hostility toward me and I'll put you down without a second thought, got that?" he grumbled before standing up and walking over to the campfire where he dished up a bowl of what seemed like stew for the young Kumo runaway, "here, you don't look so good, eat up and get some strength back,"

As she took the bowl and a mouthful of stew Yugito couldn't help but sigh inwardly, the stew wasn't exactly great, but she wasn't dead, so there was always that.

xXx

(Meanwhile – Outside the academy)

"How long do we have to wait! We've been sitting here for hours," Naruto shouted at no one in particular before stopping dead in his tracks as he paced in front of the bench Gohan was sitting on, "What if they've forgotten us Gohan?" he complained.

"I haven't forgotten you brat," one Kurenai Yuhi said as she walked out from underneath the tree she'd been sitting in for the few hours the children had been forced to wait. She was wearing a black dress that went to her knees and had full length sleeves that extended to fingerless gloves, the left the same colour black while the right was white. Embroided down the length of this white sleeve was a green thorny stem that curled it's way around her arm before ending in a red rose pattern on the back of her hand. The neckline of the dress was reasonably lowcut; low enough that it hinted at the kind of body Kurenai had and draw the attention of any guy old enough to care what a woman looked like without clothes on.

Wearing simple black boots that extended almost to the top of her calve she walked over to the boys and brushed her shoulder length black hair out of her red eyes before giving them a sly smile.

"HEY! Who are you calling a brat lady? I'll show -" Naruto exclaimed before he realized whom he was talking to, the rest of his sentence catching in his throat.

"You really are cuties aren't you," she snickered grabbing Naruto's whisker marks with one hand, "adorable, little, munchkins."

"Watch it!" Naruto said before breaking free and getting into what he thought was a fighting stance. Gohan couldn't help but laugh at the ordeal; he didn't sense any malice from the woman in front of him, Naruto was just overreacting.

"Really kid? You want to try me? If you're going to be violent I guess I won't buy you dinner then,"

Immediately Naruto's tune changed and he snapped to attention, ready to do this new lady's bidding if she was going to get him some food, of course he'd prank her later for being late.

The black haired beauty that was to be their official guardian quickly turned and walked toward the gate of the Academy, beckoning the boys to follow. Naruto bolted after her while Gohan took his time getting off the bench.

He was kind of happy that they were going out for dinner, he and Naruto had never been allowed to eat at any restaurants, nor did they have the money even if the villagers were feeling particularly nice to them.

"Hey kids, I'm Kurenai and I guess I'll be looking after you for a while. Now boys, what did you learn on your first day?" Kurenai asked playfully to make them feel more comfortable around her; she already knew the answer of course, Yuugao had filled her in on the torture she'd put them through.

"It was so boring!" Naruto whined, "all we learned about was dumb history, I wanted to learn how to fight! Oh and I'm Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be Hokage!"

"Well I actually liked it," Gohan remarked, "Learning about the history of the village was interesting. And I'm Son Gohan, ma'am."

Kurenai chuckled, "Drop the formality kid, just call me Kurenai, you can even add a chan to it if you want. Think of me like your big sister, a big sister who'll punish you if you break any of her stuff," she said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye that told her she wasn't kidding.

_Right, so he's a bookworm, I might like this kid yet. Naruto's going to be a handful though and Yuugao wasn't wrong, they are freaking adorable. _Kurenai couldn't help but think to herself as they walked toward a nice barbecue restaurant that she'd been taken to on a date recently and the two kids bickered about the lessons they were taught and what they might be learning the next day.

They were full of life and excitement and endless possibilities, it was rather infectious and she couldn't help but smile even while she kept an eye out for any blatant threats. Looking around she noticed the looks the villagers were giving the children; disdainful looks, looks that said they didn't want them around.

She knew what she was getting in to when she accepted the job but she was doing this for Yuugao; that girl was the little sister she never had, and a damn fine shinobi and if she said that these kids were worth it then they were. For now all she had to contend with were the glances of the guys out for the night; their eyes drawn to neckline of her dress.

Kurenai didn't care, if they were looking there and not at the children then that was what mattered, that and she was always looking for cute guys to take her out to dinner.

The kids hardly seemed to notice, living in their own little world of adventures.

xXx

Sakura couldn't help but notice the young boys she'd seen a number of times around the village, normally they were alone, this time though there was a beautiful black haired woman accompanying them. Maybe it was because they were at the academy now?

_What were their names again?_ The young pinkette thought to herself, racking her brain for a good while before it came to her, "Hey Gohan-san! Naruto-san!" shouting through the hustle and bustle of people in the street she tried to get their attention.

"Darling, why are you yelling?" her mother uttered rather strictly before trying to pull her further along the street toward their home.

"Gohan and Naruto mother, they are children from the academy, they seem nice enough," Sakura remarked with a smile before pointing in their direction. The young children and their guarding were looking in their direction now.

"Don't you remember what I told you? You mustn't talk to them!" Haruno Mebuki reminded her daughter harsly before sighing, "I can't believe they were even allowed in the academy, now let's go," she added, pulling Sakura away.

Between the Hokage speaking to them alone, the attack in the park, the ANBU cat tailing them and the fact that Naruto was the container for the demon Kyuubi Mebuki knew that the only thing those two boys were was bad news and Sakura wasn't going to be spending any more time than necessary with them.

Disappointment flashed across the face of the young Haruno Sakura as she was pulled away, breaking eye contact with the young duo and the older lady. They didn't seem nasty at all, if anything Gohan was cute, and he seemed to be the only one aside from her interested in learning the history of the village; Naruto was a loudmouth but Gohan, he seemed nice.

xXx

"Who was that?" Kurenai asked, unsettled by the fact that the girl's mother had stopped her from doing anything other than catching their attention.

"I think that was Sakura," Gohan announced, "she is in our class at the academy."

"Is she your friend?" Kurenai inquired.

"Ummm not really, we only have one friend," he replied.

"Yeah! Hinata-chan!" Naruto exclaimed enthusiastically to Kurenai; his energy never seemed to drop.

Everything he did managed to raise her spirits, even if only slightly. Chuckling she walked them to the restaurant where they were going to eat, only to be held up at the door.

"I'm sorry but you'll have to go elsewhere, we're rather full tonight," the young waitress said from behind the pedestal that held the reservations book at the door as she glanced nervously at Naruto and Gohan.

Looking inside over half the restaurant was empty and anger flashed in the red eyes of Kurenai before she reached out and grasped the pedestal the waitress was touching, "I think you'll find that there is plenty of room of for us in here tonight and you will find us a table for three,"

A confused look passed across the eyes of the young brunette serving them before her blue orbs went blank, staring into space, "Uhhh, yes my apologies," she said in a monotone, "This way please,"

Within moments they were sitting down at their table, the young boys looking happier than ever that they were finally going to get real barbeque.

xXx

Shikaku couldn't help but smile at the subtle genjutsu Kurenai had inflicted upon the prejudiced waitress before he turned his attention back to Shikamaru, "So, how was your first day?"

"Troublesome,"

"Is that all you have to say about it?"

"Boring too," the young black haired child mumbled, before turning his attention back to the food.

"Another round of sake Shikaku?" the large Chouza laughed as he got up from the table and Shikaku shook his head, "A platter of meat then?"

He had to chuckle, his large friend had such an insatiable appetite it never got old. The black haired tactician leant toward his blonde haired friend as their children continued to complain about how boring their first day was, "I'm glad Kurenai can help give them at least a normal life now that they're in the academy right?"

"Yes it is indeed fortun-," Inoichi began before cutting himself off, "Shikaku, what's wrong with this picture?" he added before looking toward the entrance of the restaurant.

There was a man with his blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. He was wearing commoners clothing and frankly would have gone more or less unnoticed by everyone, except that he was staring at Naruto in disbelief. He wasn't ignoring the boy and he wasn't sending a scornful look his way either, the strange man was just staring, until his face lit up like Christmas had come early.

A few steps and he was nearing the young blonde that was Uzumaki Naruto.

"Iwa?" Shikaku muttered under his breath.

"One can only assume, either way he's obviously not from around here, everyone here knows who Naruto is, and you can't say the boy doesn't look like you know who," Iniochi replied out the corner of his mouth, not ready to take his eyes of the man making his way to the table of the Jinchuuriki.

"Let's find out who he is than shall we?"

"Well, well, well, look what we have here-un," the mystery nin sneered loud enough for everyone to hear as he stopped at the table of the pseudo-family, "Looks like he really did have a -," the final word of the sentence caught in his mouth as his entire body locked up.

"Now is there a reason you're here, or did you just visit Konoha for the lovely weather this time of year?" Iniochi snarled, binding the hands of the shinobi behind his back before turning to look back to his table, "Hurry home, we've got some business to attend to,"

Their wives hastened each of their children out with Yoshino Nara, Shikaku's beautiful brunette of a wife, stopping as they left, "Don't be too late now Shika, and don't let this guy get the better of you," she commanded, sending her husband red in the cheeks in front of his friends.

With the strange nin's hands bound Shikaku released his shadow bind technique and called for his friend, "Chouza, pay the man and let's get out of here, we have someone who needs to have a little chat with the Hokage,"

The man cackled, "So you don't want him to know who he is, how sweet! Hey kid, you're the spitting image of that bastard Min–oof," the wind was knocked out of him as Inoichi buried his fist in his diaphragm.

The large man walked away from the counter of the restaurant with a cheerful look on his face and a chuckle, "I go away for five seconds and you guys cause a stir," his countenance turned serious at this and he looked straight at the mysterious blonde, "Now let's go find out who you are,"

Naruto, Kurenai and Gohan could only watch in confusion as the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio escorted the strange man out of the restaurant, keeping him gagged.

"What was that all about?" Naruto wondered out loud, hoping that Kurenai could give him an answer.

"I honestly have no idea Naruto," she sighed, strange men, ninja even, approaching them in the middle of the village, what was the world coming to?

_But what did he mean by 'Looks like he really did have a-'. Who was Naruto a spitting image of? Who was the shinobi talking about?_

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the rumbling of Gohan's stomach, those thoughts would have to wait, Gohan and Naruto were her priority right now.

"Uhhhh, Sorry," the young boy mumbled sheepishly.

Laughter erupted around the table breaking the rather solemn mood and they ordered dinner, something that Kurenai would come to regret, her purse considerably emptier by the time they finished.

xXx

"Mum what was that all about?" Ino asked her mother as they bid farewell to Shikamaru and Chouji and made their way home.

"It was nothing darling," was all the reply she got from the regal brunette that was her mother.

"But why was that strange man interested in Naruto? He seems nice enough," the inquisitive blonde looked up with eyes shining blue, curious as to who would want to hurt her new classmate.

"I don't know, but I want you to know that some people will be nasty to him, so that might have been it," she lied, "Just know that there is nothing wrong with Naruto. He comes from a very important family and I don't want you to believe the nasty things you might hear other children say about him, okay?" she lied again, not being able to break the third's law or accidently let slip information that would lead Ino to one day discover the boy's secret.

"You mean like a special clan?" Ino asked excitedly, she knew something was different about him, confusion then passed across her features, "but what clan is it, who are the Uzumaki mother?"

"That's a story for another day my dear, but promise me you won't listen to the nasty words of others?"

Her daughter nodded enthusiastically at that, "I promise,"

xXx

"Mum, why was that man trying to talk to Naruto?" the inquisitive Akimichi Chouji asked his mother when they were finally home.

"I don't know, just know that you should stay away from that boy. He's trouble you don't need," was all the reply the young clan heir received.

"But he seemed alright today, what's wrong with him?" Chouji was genuinely curious; there was nothing he saw at the academy that made the boy seem like he needed to be avoided.

"It's not for me to say, just know that he's a troublemaker, so stay away from him," she replied gruffly, "Now get to sleep, you need your rest. I'm glad you had a good day," she added abruptly, kissing him on the cheek before sending him to bed.

Trudging to his room he couldn't help but think about the strange occurrences of the night.

He didn't give it much more thought once he was in bed though, if his mother said he shouldn't associate with the boy he wouldn't and it wasn't long before fell victim to sleep's embrace.

xXx

"Troublesome…" was all the young Shikamaru Nara muttered as he made his way home with his mother, kicking at the rocks on the path with his hands in his pockets.

"Yes for once I can agree, this is all very troublesome," his mother murmured in agreement.

That was all to be said that night between the heir of the Nara clan and his mother. After all, that was all that need be said.

xXx

Uchiha Fugaku wasn't one to miss something as peculiar as the legendary Ino-Shika-Cho trio dragging a bound and gagged man from the barbeque restaurant that he was planning on visiting that night. It was a spectacle indeed but it wasn't long before the strange blonde realized he wouldn't be getting away, or getting a word out and so he admitted defeat and let them drag him away.

_Best to save your strength for when you have the chance to make a difference. _Fugaku thought to himself.

It wasn't just the incident that caught his eye however. It was the Hyuuga standing rather conspicuously on the other side of the street, his eyes darting backwards and forwards between the man being dragged up the street and the entrance to the restaurant.

When he finally crossed the threshold he realized why; sitting at a table with one Yuhi Kurenai was Uzumaki Naruto and the small black haired child he could only assume was the one that had been stirring up so much trouble.

_Well this certainly is a development, and I can only assume Hiashi has a reason for the bold tail on these three. Does he know something I don't?_

Either way the head of the Konoha Police Force had a lot to think about as he sat down for dinner that night.

xXx

The ninja didn't struggle as the three clan leaders brought him before the Hokage.

All Hiruzen did when he saw the three men enter with a bound shinobi between them was sigh; he already had enough on his plate, he didn't need this either.

"What is it Shikaku?" he asked tiredly, "Or rather who is it?"

"We don't know Hokage-sama, only that he was quick to pick up on one of our S-Ranked secrets, so maybe Iwa? Had we not stopped him he would have revealed it to Naruto and then I'm not sure what he would have done to the boy had he been able to get away,"

Hiruzen turned a hardened gaze on the blonde.

"Search him," was all the command Inoichi needed to start removing anything with even remote value from the man. For the most part he wasn't hiding anything too deadly, at least not openly, they assumed everything that could be considered even remotely a ninja tool was sealed within the scrolls they lifted from his pockets.

The last thing to be removed from the pocket of the ninja in disguise was a photo of a small blonde boy no older than 10.

"And who might this be?" the Hokage asked, displaying the photo of the small child to the man.

"Why do you care-un?" he murmured, "What relevance does that boy have to anything?"

"Well what relevance does Naruto have with anything? He's just an innocent boy," replied Hiruzen, moving forward and placing his hand under the chin of the man kneeling on the floor, forcing him to look the Hokage in the eyes.

"No! He's the scum offspring of that bastard-un!" he twisted his head and broke free as he barked this, spitting at the feet of the Hokage.

"So Iwa then," sighed the Hokage, turning away to think, "Inoichi, take him away, find out everything you can."

"You're not going to kill me?"

"Why no, we aren't as barbaric as the Village Hidden within the Rocks," this got a snarl from the Iwagakure spy, "But as they say, knowledge is power. Get rid of him."

The Hokage sighed again when he was finally alone in his room.

_Everyday more questions present themselves and the answers are nowhere in sight. Such is the burden of the Hokage._

xXx

(Residence of Kurenai Yuhi)

"Alright kids," Kurenai explained as she unlocked the front door to the home she had recently come into possession of, "Don't break anything, or I'll put you in a torture genjutsu or something," she added offhandedly, waving a hand and taking away any real substance to the threat.

The house they were to live in was on the outskirts of the village, in a small civilian suburb that bordered the Uchiha clan compound. It was a reasonable size home and an upgrade from the apartment she'd been living in. The Hokage had helped chip in for the upsize because she simply didn't have the room for the kids to be running around in the tiny one bedroom she'd occupied.

It was a simple one-story affair with two bathrooms, three bedrooms and a spacious living area that joined onto the kitchen. The backyard was sizeable enough. In short it was a dream come true for the two boys, Naruto having lived in the orphanage his entire life, while Gohan finally had a room again.

Each of them sprinted to their respective beds and jumped into them before Naruto got up and ran to Gohan's doorway before inspecting his friend's domain, "Hah! I got the bigger room, dattebayo!" He promptly received a pillow to the face from his little friend before Kurenai walked up behind him, picking up the struggling Jinchuuriki to put him back in his bed.

"You've got school tomorrow brat, get some sleep," she grinned condescendingly.

"Yeah but I bet it's gonna be boring stuff again," Naruto whined with a pronounced pout.

Kurenai chuckled, "Oh I can assure you it will be, now get some sleep kid."

"Finneeeee," he drawled and Kurenai left him alone.

He couldn't help but look up at the ceiling, wondering how his life would be different if Gohan had never arrived, and it wasn't long into the night before his best friend made his way into the room with a pillow, lying down on the floor.

"Do you think I could sleep in here tonight Naruto?" he asked sheepishly.

"Any time you like Gohan," Naruto replied, and it wasn't long before the two of them were fast asleep.

As Kurenai herself was falling asleep in the double bed that sat against the center of the wall opposite the door her thoughts drifted to the strange events of the night.

_You're the spitting image of Min-_, kept running through her head.

_Who is Naruto the spitting image of and who is Min? The kind of blonde hair the boy possesses isn't exactly common. Min, Min, Min, Min why does that sound familiar? The only name that comes to mind that even starts with Min is Minato, but… Nooooo. The hair does make sense though. But sealing the Kyuubi into your own son, that's rough. _

Was she really looking after the Son of the Yondaime, how many other people knew about this?

xXx

(Later that night - Hyuuga Compound)

The Hyuuga operative appeared at the door to the clan leader's office not needing to knock, Hiashi could see him through the walls.

"Anything to report?" the Hyuuga master queried from behind his desk.

"There was an incident during dinner Hiashi-sama. What would seem to be an operative of some kind went into the same restaurant and upon seeing Naruto seemed to have a revelation of some kind. He said something about Naruto being the spitting image of a 'mina' but never got the complete sentence out as he was restrained and gagged by the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. He shouted that the boy was the spitting image of a Min? Anyway they've escorted him to the Hokage already. Aside from that Naruto and Gohan now seem to have a caretaker, Yuhi Kurenai."

"Is that all?" inquired Hiashi.

"Yes Hiashi-sama, that is all I have to report. After dinner nothing out of the ordinary occurred, Kurenai took them to what would appear to be their home and there was no activity. I thought it best to report on the night's events."

"Yes, yes you've done well, you're dismissed," Hiashi waved his operative out as he thought deeply about what he'd just learned.

"Hai," without wasting a second the Hyuuga was gone, leaving Hiash alone with his thoughts.

_Who could the nin been about to reveal? Who was the father of the orphan Jinchuuriki? _

As he pondered, stewing over the information he'd just received he heard a slight whistling before an arrow flew through the air and landed in the floor, just outside the open door. It was clearly not meant as a threat to him, or whoever had launched it was a horrible shot. His suspicions were confirmed when after getting up to inspect the arrow, his byakugan active, ready to react to any other threats he noticed a small note attached to the shaft that read:

_Meet me tomorrow, midnight, training ground 23, come alone. We need to talk about the boys. _

xXx

(Lunchtime the next day – Ninja Academy)

He ducked under a fast right, and jumped the following sweep directed at him by Naruto. Gohan had to admit that he loved to spar with his friend. They never really hurt the other and if they did they were more or less healed the next day, which neither of them found particularly strange.

The young Saiyan jumped over the leg only to find Naruto had recovered by the time his feet hit the ground. Bringing his arms up in an X to form the best guard he could against his friend's monster of a punch was all he could do. He dug his feet in to prevent himself from sliding and grabbed the offending limb, quickly throwing Naruto over his shoulder in response.

Ever since they'd started fighting each other they'd been getting better, it was slow progress due to not being formal training but they'd still been conditioning their bodies by fighting each other day in and day out. Their reflexes were sharper and their responses were more natural than they otherwise would have been and it showed.

Naruto quickly broke the hold Gohan had before he hit the ground, allowing him to roll away unscathed, but now it was Gohan on the offensive. He closed the distance quickly and lashed out with a punch that Naruto managed to side step, dropping his shoulder and stepping into the attack to ram his friend.

The resulting hit sent Gohan backwards, forcing him tumbling to the ground, where he rolled back to his feet, a smile on his face as he stared down his friend.

Gohan didn't really have a problem with fighting his friend; they knew they couldn't hurt each other badly. He would never hurt Naruto and he knew Naruto would never truly hurt him.

Because there was no risk of proper injury it was a past time that Gohan truly enjoyed, and he was glad that he'd spent most of the last two months fighting his friend playfully.

He wasn't sure what it was, but the simplicity of fighting, the focus and anticipation of the next move, there were times when it allowed him to forget his troubles completely.

It was Gohan's turn to strike now, sprinting forward he ducked under a straight jab launched by Naruto, blocked a rising knee with his left arm and hit his friend square in the chest with a solid right handed palm strike. The resulting impact knocked his friend back several feet, forcing him out of his stance and causing him to stumble, falling flat on his ass.

Gohan walked over and extended a hand with a smile, helping Naruto to his feet.

To any experienced shinobi their fighting was merely rough housing, they were simply children after all. While their technique at certain things was improving slowly through trial and error and sheer practice they were still inexperienced children in the eyes of any ninja worth their salt.

The rest of the children in their class didn't share that view. And nearly all of them were standing dumbfounded at what they'd just seen.

Sasuke was impressed. While he had formal training and his technique was solid, something he practiced every day, the sheer speed, durability and power the two displayed was incredible when compared to anything he'd seen of anyone his age. Sure his brother would have outdone them, but his brother was a prodigy.

Chouji could only watch their 'fight' with his mouth agape, while Shikimaru muttered "Troublesome," under his breath.

"Oh my god, that was so cool!" Ino shouted when the fight was over, she walked over to Naruto to get a better look at the blonde. There was no malice in the fight, anyone watching could tell that, there was just the sheer enjoyment of competition, "you really are cool Naruto-kun!"

"You think so?" Naruto beamed, he'd never been complimented by a girl as pretty as Ino before, "thanks I guess, I'm gonna be Hokage after all, dattebayo!"

Ino just giggled before retreating back over to Chouji and Shikamaru and this time it was Hinata that spoke up, "You fought incredibly Gohan-kun!" she exclaimed boldly, not to be outdone by Ino. Her father never said anything about seeing them during lunchtime; they were technically still at school.

Sasuke was genuinely interested, he might be able to learn something from these two, something that might help him surprise his big brother. He'd have to ask them for a fight.

"I wa-," he started before being cut off.

"Alright kids!" Yuugao shouted from the door to the academy, "My class, it's time to get back inside, we've got more history to learn!" she shouted with a devilish grin and a cackle.

As Naruto and Gohan passed her she whispered to them, "Nice fight boys, you really are improving, but wait until I teach you some real moves," she finished with a wink and they continued on to class.

They were already making a name for themselves among the lunch yard. She wondered what would happen when they started to learn proper combat skills, would they take to those as quickly?

Gohan's non-violent nature was the only thing that worried her, he was a gentle soul, and they didn't last very long in a world like this.

xXx

(Later that afternoon - Hyuuga Compound)

Hinata had a reasonably nice time at the academy that day and she was content when she returned home with her escort, having been awed by the fight her two friends had put on for the rest of the class unintentionally.

For once she went into the training session she had with her father with a tiny amount of hope. Hope that she could do well, that she could learn, because if Gohan and Naruto could fight so amazingly she'd need to be able to as well.

As she stood in the door of the Hyuuga main house dojo her escort Shinten walked over to her father, the stoic clan head sitting in the center of the room with his eyes closed, and bent down whispering in his ear.

Hinata was confused, normally this wouldn't happen, Shinten would usually just leave her and her father alone.

Her father sighed after Shinten had finished speaking and stood, issuing a command that she couldn't hear before turning toward her.

"I hear news that you haven't heeded my words Hinata, that you were seen supporting, what was his name? Gohan, yes, that brat. You will listen to me Hinata and you will have nothing to do with those boys," her father uttered coldly, sending shivers of fear through her body, "And just so you remember," he paused and looked toward the opposite entrance to the dojo where a young boy and Shinten now stood, "Neji shall be your sparring partner until I decide otherwise. And don't worry, I won't let him kill you."

Hinata didn't know what she'd done to deserve any of this but still she proceeded to step further into the dojo, she'd face Neji with all her strength.

xXx

After school Gohan and Naruto made their way back home with Kurenai, recounting their day for her. Naruto even mentioned that they both got complemented by pretty girls for their awesome fight, to which their black haired guardian could only laugh, "I doubt it was that awesome, I'll show you some killer moves and then it will be awesome," she added with a smile.

It wasn't long before they reached the house they'd been first taken to the night before and opened the front door. Kurenai quickly made her way inside, followed by Naruto while Gohan stopped next to the small table just inside the front door. There was a small handwritten note that hadn't been there that morning.

_Kurenai, because I want the best for Gohan and Naruto and because the other students who belong to clans will be getting special training at home I'd like you to start training them in chakra. The sooner they start the better._

_Yuugao_

"Uuuhhh, Kurenai-chan, what is chakra?" Gohan asked when he'd finished reading.

"Huh, why do you ask?" she remarked quizzically.

"Because Yuugao-sensei left you this note," he replied with a smile, holding out the piece of paper for her to take.

"Oh," she paused in thought, "well I didn't think I'd be getting an easy gig for too long. Come on, I'll teach you and Naruto, Naruto!" she called out, getting the boy to run from his room, "Let's go out the back and I'll explain all about chakra."

"What's chakra?" he said with a scrunched up look on his face, "Is it tasty?"

"Exactly," Kurenai deadpanned, "Let's go boys, we've got work to do."

It wasn't long before they were sitting in the back yard of their home. It wasn't the largest of affairs, but it was big enough for their needs. There were two training dummies up the back and a dirt patch in the middle, it would seem the Hokage wanted them to get good use out of the space.

"Alright boys, as it seems you two know nothing about chakra lets start with the basics. Chakra is the life force that each of us contains, it's like a living energy that our body replenishes, and it allows shinobi to do incredible things, from walking up trees, to creating clones, to using devastating techniques. It is what gives shinobi the bulk of their arsenal of abilities.

By channeling and controlling their chakra they can accomplish these feats. It's not easy and takes a lot of control, especially for people with large reserves, but when it's done you can even affect what people see or feel or think. Let me show you, close your eyes."

After they'd done as she said she reached out and placed a hand on their heads, channeling the slightest amount of chakra.

"Now open them," she said with a smile.

"OH KAMI WHAT IS HAPPENING!" Naruto screamed until he realized that he was soaring through the air. He angled himself and his body would change direction allowing him to dart through the sky with ease, "This is so cool! I can't believe I'm flying!"

"Ummm I don't think it worked for me Kurenai-chan," Gohan said, "I'm still sitting here with you and Naruto."

"Yes I'd feared that. The Hokage had mentioned something about your chakra being different to ours. It makes it more difficult, nigh impossible for me to put a genjutsu on you. I'd need practice to make it work, and even then I wouldn't be sure."

"Wait, so I'm not really flying?" Naruto asked, a little disappointed, he could still hear them clearly despite being under the illusion of flight.

"No," Kurenai said and with a snap of her fingers he was back to reality, "I just wanted to demonstrate the ability of chakra."

"So chakra is kind of like Ki?" Gohan asked only to receive confused looks from the both of them, "uhhhh Ki is kind of like an energy that comes from within that can be used as well, well my dad used to use it in his attacks. I saw him train a few times back when I was home. I don't remember much, but I do remember one attack, it was scary, but also pretty at the same time."

"You're saying you can use this Ki Gohan?" Kurenai asked, if he could then that might be beneficial toward his career as a ninja.

"Oh no, my dad never trained me, my mum didn't want me to fight so I have no idea how to use Ki," he said matter-of-factly.

"Okay well that's okay we'll teach you how to use chakra. Now the first and easiest step is to learn the ram seal," she showed them the orientation of their fingers necessary to form the seal and continued, "Once you can perform this without thinking it will help you channel your chakra greatly until you can learn how to do it without the seal. Once you have channeled enough chakra you can do something with it. In my case I used it to manipulate your chakra and change what you perceived Naruto, hence your little departure from reality okay? So before I teach you any techniques I'd like you to channel chakra first and remember that it won't be easy at first. Just imagine pulling energy from the center of your being and focus on the seal you're making with your hands. Pulling the energy from deep within and while focusing on the seal should draw it to your hands. Got it?" The young boys nodded.

"I don't expect you to get it first go, you'll probably be trying for a long while but when you get it you'll know, you'll be able to feel it."

"So when we can channel this chakra stuff we can be awesome shinobi?" Naruto queried excitedly, he was so ready to be awesome!

Kurenai could only chuckle as she stood and went to sit on the bench in the yard, watching over the children, "Don't get too ahead of yourself, small steps kid, small steps."

Gohan was concentrating too hard for words, but no matter how hard he thought about pulling the energy from within he just couldn't, and so the two youngsters worked late into the night trying to succeed at accessing the power hidden within but to no avail, and both went to bed a little disappointed.

They'd just have to try harder next time.

xXx

(Midnight - Training Ground 23)

Hiashi was wary of who it might have been that sent the letter. Whoever it was though was a good shot, of that he was certain and so he entered the training field cautiously with his byakugan active.

"Ahhh so it was you who called me here tonight, I came alone, so what is it that you want?" Hiashi snapped impatiently, he wasn't exactly on the greatest of terms with the head of police.

Fugaku strolled forward into the moonlight that bathed the grounds in a pale glow, putting himself on equal ground with his partner in conversation.

"Now now, no need to be aggressive Hiashi-san, I believe we can be of assistance to one another, or more importantly the village. I noticed you had someone tailing the boys, and figured that it might be better if we were to work together for the good of Konoha," Fugaku elucidated with a faux smile.

"Or ourselves you mean," Hiashi replied, seeing straight through the wizened Uchiha.

"Surely you cannot agree with the actions of the Hokage, allowing the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi and this child beast to roam freely. I've heard tell that they have even been allowed admittance to the academy? Does this information hold true?"

"Yes, my daughter fraternized with them, needless to say I've put an end to that. The both of them are monsters and the Hokage has given them too much freedom. Not to mention this whole mess has drawn the attention of the other villages. Why only just last night a spy was caught in the middle of town," Hiashi snarled, not happy with the situation in the slightest.

"Why yes, I believe I was there for that, I've heard he mentioned something about Naruto being the spitting image of a Min. Now I can only imagine he meant Minato, although how he put the pieces together so quickly I don't know," he paused when he saw the look of surprise on Hiashi's face, "what? You didn't work that out? Well it's only fair, I guess Mikoto and the brat's mother were quite close, I suppose you were a little out of the loop in that regard," Fugaku said smoothly before laughing.

"But that would mean that the Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi no Yok-,"

"Yes, into his own son. He had to do it to save the village, and I fear that we might soon be called to action for the sake of the village Hiashi, that is why I have called you hear tonight," he stopped, waiting to see how the Hyuuga would react.

"I'm listening," was all the reply Fugaki needed from Hiashi to start his explanation.

"Naruto contains the Kyuubi, an immense power that one day might be harnessed for the good of the village if the Yondaime's seals hold true. And given the caliber of the man we can only assume that as the truth. Not only is he the Jinchuuriki but he's an Uzumaki, something that a lot of people seem to overlook. If you'll remember Hiashi, the Uzumaki were wiped out for fear of being too powerful.

Their chakra, while not of any particular type was incredible. They had increased regeneration, lifespan, and vitality to name just a few aspects. Their sealing was immensely powerful as well, but that's beside the point. The physical attributes they possessed may as well have been classified as a bloodline trait. This coupled with the power of the Kyuubi no Yoko makes Naruto an asset that the village cannot afford to lose. And we were not at risk of losing the boy, until this other child showed up."

"He goes by Gohan apparently," Hiashi interjected before Fugaku could continue.

"Yes, Gohan, well he's thrown a spanner in the works if I was ever to understate it. The Hokage knows more than he's letting on and obviously you have more information than I do if you were risking a tail on the child. He's upset the balance of the village, attracted unwanted attention from the powers of the major nations, and we don't know the extent of the threat he himself poses. Yes, the Hokage says that there isn't a chance of him turning into an ape again, but how do we know for sure?"

What do you suppose we do? You know I'll never trust you fully."

"Nor I you," Fugaku quickly added with a grin before Hiashi continued.

"But I suppose we could share information, spread the word, keep an eye on Naruto and his freak of a friend,"

"Freak of a friend? I understand he turned into a giant ape, something to be fearful of sure but what else is so strange about him?" Fugaku was intrigued to hear just what Hiashi had learned of the child, he did have the power of the Byakugan after all.

"Even without his transformation he's a threat Fugaku. Seeing as how you've been so forthcoming with village secrets and how we seem to have some sort of agreement I'll be generous," Hiashi remarked calmly, "The child has three chakra networks and his reserves would appear to be massive, Kage size without a doubt. In short he has too much power to know what to do with. I don't know have a clue what he is or where he's from but between that and the ape status he needs to be locked away until we know more about him. For now though there isn't much we can do. The Hokage still holds too much power," Hiashi practically hissed the last sentence.

"Be careful what you say Hiashi-san, someone could be listening, we wouldn't want to sound like we were planning a coup or something of the sort, but yes this is indeed troubling. Meet back here in a week to discuss any eventualities, these boys would indeed seem more trouble than they're worth, but Naruto is someone who we unfortunately cannot afford to lose." Fugaku chuckled as he turned and disappeared into the dark, shun-shinning away from the meeting point and leaving the Hyuuga clan head wondering exactly what the village was coming to if he was resorting to an alliance with the Uchiha clan.

xXx

(One week later – Ninja Academy)

It had been a week since Gohan and Naruto had started training with Kurenai and neither of them had been able to channel chakra. There had been one night where Naruto had thought he'd done it, only to find out the sensation in his body was merely pins and needles; Kurenai had spent the rest of the night in a fit of laughter.

So they were nowhere close to channeling chakra and so far Yuugao had taught them nothing but math and history. Naruto really wasn't enjoying this ninja stuff as much as he thought he would. Gohan on the other hand was having a great time.

"Okay kids," Yuugao announced when everyone had arrived for class, she couldn't help but notice that Hinata was limping; she'd have to ask what that was all about later, "today we'll start on combat training, more importantly the basics of taijutsu. In order for me to effectively teach you I need to see your strengths and weaknesses in the physical art so I will have you spar each other in a tournament of sorts. I will of course be adjudicating each match and you will abide by everything I say, I'll not be having any injuries out there today, got it? Now the boys will fight amongst each other and the girls will fight amongst each other. Out on the battlefield they won't care what gender you are, but for today the boys will fight each other and the girls will fight each other. Now everyone outside, quick!"

Moments later the room was bustling with children making their way toward the exit, excited that they were going to do something interesting for once. The only person who didn't look happy about it was Gohan; he was the only one walking.

"What is it Gohan?" She inquired calmly, kneeling down to his height, "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I just don't want to fight anyone except Naruto, what if I hurt them? I know I don't hurt Naruto too badly, that's why I like fighting him, but what if the others aren't as tough as him?"

"It will just mean that they have to train harder Gohan, the stronger everyone gets the better it is for the village after all. I know you'll go out there and do your best, I know you'll make me proud," she said softly.

"Hmmm okay, I'll try to do my best Yuugao-sensei," Gohan replied before hurrying out the door closely followed by Yuugao herself.

It wasn't long before everyone was centered around the ring painted on the ground that would be their arena and Yuugao stood over them all, "Alright before we start with formal training I want to see what you know already, some of you I know will have already had training and other haven't but that doesn't mean you aren't natural fighters so I want you all to try your best. We'll start with the male division, first up I'd like to see Aburame Shino and Nara Shikamaru," she called out to the students, beckoning the two children into the arena, one on each side of the circle, "Start when you're ready."

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Shikamaru spoke up, "I quit," he announced to everyone before stepping out of the ring.

"You what?" Yuugao deadpanned.

"That is most dishonorable Shikamaru-san," Shino remarked before stepping out of the ring, "But I guess I move onto the next round."

"Shikamaru what was that all about?" the purple haired teacher questioned the Nara heir.

"Fighting's troublesome. Had I won I would have ended up fighting Naruto or Gohan or someone who is strong, and I don't need that, I'd rather be sleeping right now," he replied off-handedly before going and sitting in the shade under a tree with his eyes closed.

Yuugao just sighed before calling out the next matchup, "Fine, Inuzuka Kiba vs Uzumaki Naruto."

"Let's do this Naruto! I'm gonna win for sure!" the young Inuzuka shouted with all his bluster.

"Yeah right!" Ino barked loudly for everyone to hear, "You've seen Naruto fight with Gohan, you haven't got a chance dog breath!"

"Hey!" he managed to grumbled in protest before Yuugao cut them all off.

"ENOUGH! Now get on with the fight,"

"Let's see what you've got Kiba!" Naruto shouted, "Just know that I'm gonna be Hokage one day, dattebayo!"

The words weren't even out of Naruto's mouth when Kiba rushed him. Naruto had to admit he wasn't as fast as Gohan but what he lacked in speed he made up for in ferocity at close range. He had Naruto back-pedaling from the get go, trying to avoid the untrained swings that the Inuzuka was dishing out in anger.

He finished his final punch before following through into a crouched stance that he launched himself out of in a head-butt, slamming straight into Naruto's sternum and knocking him clear off his feet.

Landing and rolling quickly back into a defensive stance Naruto looked up to find Kiba rushing at him again. Peering behind Naruto could see that he was standing just in front of the edge of the circle, if he didn't make a move now he'd lose by default, and he sure as hell wasn't letting that happen.

Kiba came at him with a wild right-handed haymaker that Naruto caught cleanly in his left hand. The sheer shock factor of the move made Kiba freeze, giving Naruto plenty of time to land a solid right hook across his opponent's face, forcing him back. He had momentum now and he didn't lose it, starting with a left jab he followed into a right haymaker before lashing out with his right leg, landing a solid kick in Kiba's gut. Finally he charged down his opponent, ready to knock him off his feet.

Kiba managed to get his feet under himself and brace for Naruto's next attack, lashing out with his hands to try and deter the blonde. In the end it didn't matter how hard he hit him Naruto followed through and the shoulder charge landed anyway, forcing him to stumble backwards, the breath knocked out of him, and fall outside the bounds of the ring the clear loser of the bout.

"Are you alright Kiba?" Yuugao asked out of concern for the young Inuzuka, she didn't want to send anyone to the infirmary but she would if she had to. Naruto could dish out a beating of that she was certain, but what she noted that was remarkable was that he seemed to have an indomitable spirit. After the rather solid hit Kiba landed on him he pulled back from defeat and slammed his opponent, even finishing a charge when taking hits; the kid had guts.

"Yeah I'll survive," the young boy replied shakily as he stood up from where he'd fallen over.

"YAY! Go Naruto!" Ino screamed rather enthusiastically before having to pipe down under the stares of all her female classmates.

Even still Yuugao beckoned for the medic that she'd organized for the day to come and have a look at him. Now that that was settled she decided to call the next match, "Uchiha Sasuke vs Son Gohan, don't be afraid Gohan, just do your best,"

"Hah, what's he afraid of, getting his ass kicked by Sasuke?" Sakura sneered from the sidelines, earning a heated glare from Hinata.

"Actually," Yuugao explained, "He's afraid of hurting Sasuke," this shut the pinkette up almost straight away.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at this before he spoke up, "I think you're pretty strong from what I've seen but I want to be the strongest so I can make my brother proud alright? So don't go easy on me or I'll never get any better."

Gohan could respect that, it was all Naruto and he did it for, well that and it was fun, but he could understand Sasuke's reasons.

"Alright, if that's what you want," Gohan muttered.

"Fight," Yuugao barked, indicating the start of the bout.

Sasuke dashed forward, the signature speed of the Uchiha clearly on display when he lashed out with a clinically precise jab at Gohan's ribs before the young Saiyan sidled out of the way.

"You're fast," Gohan commented, a gleam in his eye that Yuugao had only ever seen when the boy was sparring with Naruto, it was as if his whole demeanor changed when he was in combat, like he was a different person, "this will be interesting, fighting someone different to Naruto,"

Gohan struck out with his right fist, hitting nothing but air as Sasuke rolled beneath the attack, sweeping his leg out once he'd finished and forcing Gohan to retreat.

Now that there was a little space Sasuke had room to charge once again, coming down on Gohan swiftly, they exchanged blows that hit nothing but air, each of them moving in sync; a rhythmic fighting that Gohan found himself enjoying more and more. His movements became faster and his confidence increased as he dodged the strikes of Sasuke who in turned avoided his punches and kicks; the tempo of the fight increasing rapidly.

Anyone watching was mesmerized by the display that two five year olds were putting on, and the level of their fighting stunned even Yuugao. Gohan had never done this when he was fighting Naruto, maybe because while Naruto had power the technique wasn't there, he'd rather take a hit to make a hit than avoid strikes. Sasuke was more on level with Gohan it would seem but even this was surprising. It was as if the boy fought only to match his opponent, but when had Gohan learnt to fight like this?

Gohan wasn't even thinking by now, he was just moving naturally in whatever way his body urged him, as if he were born to fight, as if his sole purpose was combat; hardwired into his muscles. It didn't take long for Sasuke to find his limit. It had only been ninety seconds since the start of the fight but at the pace the two were fighting it was only expected that the young Uchiha be out of breath, his strength fading. Gohan however felt he could do more, that he could push past this, and that's when he saw Sasuke slip up, not able to sustain the level of fighting when he didn't even feel tired.

But there it was, a fatal slip-up that the Saiyan within Gohan capitalized on, moving in for the final strike. The kill shot Gohan came at Sasuke with had enough force to kill, a direct hit to his chest that would easily shatter ribs and stop the function of organs.

At the last second Gohan realized exactly what it was he was doing and was afraid, afraid of himself; he never wanted to kill Sasuke. It was this fear that allowed him to pull back, to stop the full force of his assault, and rather than killing the young Uchiha, Sasuke went rocketing off the end of Gohan's fist, tumbling end over end until he came to a stop, moaning in pain on the ground.

Everyone looked at Gohan dumbfounded, and that was when he turned to Yuugao with a look of pure unadulterated fear that rivaled anything she'd ever seen. He was afraid of what he'd just done, afraid that he'd hurt his classmate beyond recovery, afraid of himself.

The medic rushed over to Sasuke and ran a quick diagnostic before revealing to everyone else that he'd be okay, "He appears to have two fractured ribs, but from the look of that hit he's lucky to have just that, any stronger and he could have been kil-,"

"Not in front the others," Yuugao said quickly, cutting off what the medic was about to say, she didn't need the others more frightened or fearful than they were already.

"Hey, I'm just calling it as I see it, anyway he needs rest and treatment, I'll take him to the infirmary," and picking up the boy who cried out in protest, the medic left.

Yuugao looked at the young Saiyan she so adored after months of looking out for him with a worried look on her face, realizing that he wasn't just the little kid she'd become so attached to; there were mysteries about him that no one had the answers to.

It was then that Gohan vowed to himself to never enjoy fighting, because he never wanted that to happen to his friends; if he'd done that to Naruto he'd never forgive himself. He realized looking back that he was fully prepared to kill Sasuke, for no reason other than the fact that he could, and he never wanted that feeling ever again.

_Just what exactly are you Gohan?_ Yuugao couldn't help but think to herself. She'd never seen a child fight like that in her entire life, not with that kind of detachment and precision, nor that kind of power. If she didn't know he was such a kind soul she'd be afraid of him, with the kind of power he had, once trained not many people could stop him.

It was Gohan who was most shaken up by the incident and he was truly terrified of himself as he walked over to sit under the tree in the yard, away from everyone but the silent Shikamaru.

He never noticed the pair of white eyes following him curiously, nor the girl that they belonged to tilting her head quizzically. She couldn't quite work out what she was seeing with her byakugan, but if Gohan had been a curiosity before, he was truly a mystery to her now.

_If only he could teach me how to fight like that, then maybe one day I'd be the one to give my father the bruises and tell him what to do, Neji too, _the young Hyuuga thought to herself as she rubbed the welts hidden beneath her grey long sleeved top.

* * *

**So that was it! Hope you enjoyed it and I just want to say that Rixxell and I are extremely excited with where this story is going so I hope I can bring you the next chapter soon, I do have a lot going on in my life right now but if I can find the time to write I will!**

Until next time!


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